


Blue Light

by cohenatwood



Category: The 100
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-07-13 00:48:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 33,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7131362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cohenatwood/pseuds/cohenatwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically the plot of the television show The O.C. but with The 100 characters. Also, a lot more gay. Storylines will obviously deviate from that show. </p><p> </p><p>Lexa Woods is a troubled teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. After getting arrested and thrown out of her house, she is taken in by her compassionate public defender, Marcus Kane. What she doesn't realize is he comes from a close-knit group of people in the wealthy, upper-class neighborhood of Newport Beach, Orange County, California. She meets his unconventional family which consists of his breadwinner wife Abby Griffin, their next door neighbor/surrogate daughter Raven Reyes, and his step-daughter who she may or may not be crushing hard on, Clarke Griffin. All hell breaks loose.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Car

**Author's Note:**

> If this gets a nice response and I continue this story, I decided the first couple of chapters will follow somewhat of the plot of the show The O.C. Probably by the end of chapter three it will deviate a lot.
> 
> I got inspired to write this after reading this amazing fic here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3597288 it had elements of The O.C. which i'm not sure if the author was going for, but it made me want to actually write an O.C. AU thing. Go check out that story, it's also part of a series and it's pretty fucking great!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Constructive criticism is always welcomed!
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr here: cohenatwood.tumblr.com

Lexa Woods knows she shouldn’t be doing this. She knows the ramifications of these actions. She knows the worst case scenario. But her sister Anya has been treating her like a dumb kid lately. Not including her in her talks with friends like she used to. Not letting her tag along to the neighborhood bar. Not letting her know what’s going on in her life. She knows she shouldn’t do this. But she also wants her sister back. So she’ll do it.

Anya has been doing these things for awhile. Breaking into cars, stealing them, taking them to chop shops and getting the money for parts. Lexa has known about this for the last two years. She’s mostly tried staying out of her affairs but lately, she has been longing for her sister. For their connection again. So here she is. It’s midnight, late summer, on a dimly lit street in their city of Chino, California. Anya has spotted a 1985 Camaro in the alley way. Whenever there’s an older car in fantastic condition, she knows she will be getting paid a lot. Anya starts to jog over, excitedly.

Lexa hesitates a little. She thinks about how wrong this is. How she can’t afford to get caught. She has never been arrested but her school would have liked her to a long time ago. She’s a fighter not a talker. She would rather talk with her fists than with her mouth and it has gotten her suspended on a couple of occasions. But right now all she can think about is the fact that Anya is excited to have her around again. She was talking non-stop to her on the way over and it made Lexa feel like they were kids again. Their mom is quite the drinker and would go on rampages after their father got arrested for armed robbery and sent to prison. When their mother had a particularly bad night, Anya would lock the two of them in her closet and tell her tall-tales till their mother had found them. As they grew up though, the tall-tales never stopped. Anya would come home late at night from the bar and would lay with Lexa in bed, telling her the tales until Lexa would fall asleep. Lexa has never told Anya about how she was only staying up because she was scared that Anya wasn’t going to come back someday. 

Anya lately hasn’t been doing her normal routine. She’s been staying distant and when she comes home now, she just tells Lexa to turn off her light and go to sleep. She’s told Lexa it’s because she doesn’t want her involved with the things she does. They were arguing a lot more recently. Finally Lexa begged Anya to come along tonight, and although Anya pretended like she didn’t want her to get mixed up in this, judging by how talkative and how excited she’s been the whole night, Lexa thinks this is exactly what she wanted.

Lexa’s want for her sister’s affections outweighs her head and she gingerly walks over to the car.

“This thing is a beauty, Lex!” Anya exclaims.

“It’s a really nice car. It’s probably gonna be a lot of money.”

“You’re damn right it is! Stand back, I’m gonna break the window. Cars this old don’t have a security system and it’s quicker to do it this way.”

Anya takes the crowbar she has and smacks the window. It sounds so loud in the darkness of the alley as the window shatters. Anya climbs in and is already rigging the ignition to start it up.

Lexa’s head is starting to overcrowd her heart. She begins to hesitate again.

“Get in Lex!” Anya says

“I don’t know An…”

“Don’t make me regret bringing you with me after you begged and begged! Hurry up and get in!”

Right at that moment a cop car drives by shining its flashlight down the alley way. Anya sees and instantly starts the car, revving the engine. Lexa knows it’s now either ride or die with her sister and she hops in. Anya takes off as Lexa sees the lights of the cop car go on and it turns down the alley way in her side mirror. 

They are going pretty fast as the sirens rage in the background. Lexa is really scared but refuses to let it show as Anya screams with excitement from the adrenaline of the chase. Anya makes a sharp turn to try and lose the cop car, not realizing it’s a dead end. She hits a barrier and they are trapped. Sirens and lights are deafening to Lexa as she realizes, this was a horrible horrible mistake.

//

 

 

Lexa was booked into the juvenile detention center in Chino. She’s 17 which means she doesn’t go to the county jail. This is the first time in her life that she has ever been separated from her older sister for longer than a day. She wears a blue jumpsuit, and she feels incredibly dirty. Her brunette hair hasn’t been washed in two days. She hasn’t eaten an actual edible meal in three days. She’s been in the detention center while the city tries to get her a lawyer. The other girls here piss her off. She tries to keep to herself, but they love to yell obscenities at her and it is taking everything in her to not clock one of them in the mouth. She tells herself that’s the last thing she needs over and over again. A guard comes to take her to meet the probably way overworked, underpaid, poor bastard that is forced to take pity on her. Her public defender.

She’s met a few public defenders in her time on earth. Her family would meet the public defender, they’d say a few things, then you would never see them again. She has set her expectations low.

She walks into the visiting center and sees a man waiting for her, writing down things on a notepad. He’s medium build, brown eyes, dark hair. He looks to be about mid-40’s. He notices her and stands up with a genuine smile on his face. He extends his hand and says,

“Lexa, Marcus Kane. The courts appointed me to be your public defender.”

Lexa looks at his extended hand, almost feels compelled to shake it, but just looks back at him and sits down across from him. He looks a little surprised and says, “You could do worse. You okay? They treating you alright?”

Lexa is surprised to hear actual concern in this mans voice. But she has other questions plaguing her mind. Like Anya.

“Where’s my sister?” She asks. He sits down looking at a file before answering her.

“Well Anya is over 18. Anya stole a car; Anya had a gun in her pants, an ounce of pot in her pocket, a couple of priors. I’m guessing right now, Anya’s looking at three to five years. But Anya isn’t my concern.” He says this with a voice that matches a parent trying to make a point. He didn’t look up once to meet her eyes. Lexa is a little taken aback by this information. She swallows the need to let some of the tears building up in her eyes to sneak out. He continues while looking at her this time, “This is your first time in lockup. I’m assuming you don’t plan on coming back,” he glances down at a file and continues, “your grades…are not great. Suspended twice for fighting, truancy three times. Other than that…” he pauses. Looks back up at Lexa’s emerald green eyes in amazement. “Your test scores? 98th percentile on your SAT1’s. Lexa, 98th percentile, you start going to class… are you thinking about college?” he asks.

Lexa scoffs at him. She’s heard this all before from school counsellors. She’s incredibly smart and she knows it. But she is also aware of how cruel this world can be. Marcus continues, “Have you given any thought to your future? C’mon kid, I’m on your side. Help me out here…”

Lexa cuts him off, “-Modern medicine is advancing to the point where the average human lifespan will be 100. But I read this article which said Social Security is supposed to run out by the year 2025, which means people are going to have to stay at their jobs until they’re…80. So I don’t want to commit to anything too soon.”

Marcus just stares at her with a smirk, then laughs a little. He shakes his head, his face still in a slight smile. Then he softens a little.

“Look, I can plead this down to a misdemeanor. Petty fine, probation. But know this, stealing a car cause your ‘big sister told you to,’ it’s stupid and it’s weak and those are two things you can’t afford to be anymore…”

“Two more things.” Lexa spits out.

“You wanna change that? Then, you’re gonna have to get over the fact that life dealt you a bad hand. I get it, we’re cut from the same deck, Lexa. I grew up, no money, bad part of the Bronx, my father was gone, my mother worked all the time… I was pissed off, I was stupid.”

“Look at you now.” Lexa smirks.

Marcus continues trying to get through to her, “Smart kid like you. You gotta have a plan. Some sort of a dream?”

Lexa is a little surprised by how much this guy is actually talking to her. Actually connecting with her. She can tell he means well. Also that his personality is that of a father figure. But she knows better than to get her hopes up that someone has an actual interest in her future.

“Yeah… right. Let me tell you something, okay?” Lexa begins, slightly annoyed and exasperated, “where I’m from, having a dream doesn’t make you smart, knowing that it won’t come true, that does.” Her voice cracks a little at the last two words and she hopes her lawyer didn’t notice.

His eyes soften a little more and he nods. He has a look of understanding that makes Lexa relax a little. Maybe he does get it.

He silently looks over her file one more time. Then closes it and looks back at Lexa. She can feel his eyes and she looks up from picking at her fingers in her lap.

“Now I just have to do some paperwork. They’re going to take you to get the things you got locked up with. You’ll be released in an hour. I already called your mom, she seems nice, she’ll come and get you. Your hearing is scheduled already for August 18th. That’s in about two weeks.” He explains.

Lexa just nods. She feels like she doesn’t need to say much with him, which is a good feeling, because she’s not talkative. He stands and surprises her one more time.

“I’ll wait outside for you until your mom comes.”

He leaves and Lexa is left with her thoughts of this conversation. She ponders Marcus’s words about her future. He’s definitely different than the other public defenders her family has dealt with. He’s genuine and she is actually kind of glad she got stuck with him. She then remembers what he said, her mom was coming to get her. She hasn’t even thought about how much her mom is going to explode at the fact that she got arrested. Her mom was getting better about not having outbursts. She still loves having a boyfriend of the week though. She still loves her drinks. Anya had been staying out of trouble, well at least not letting her mom know. Her mom was okay. But now. There was a storm coming and Lexa knew it.

 

Marcus was right, she was released within the hour. She was given back her white t-shirt, leather jacket, black jeans, and high-top vans. She walks out the door and smells the fresh air. The sun hits her eyes and she has to squint. She sees Marcus standing by the curb on his phone. He turns and sees her just as he was hanging up the phone and gives her a smile.

She walks up and gives him a smile as well. They stand together for a moment as Lexa searches for her mothers beat up blue car. She’s slightly nervous and hopes her mother at least waits till they get home to have an outburst. Marcus interrupts her thoughts, “Remember the hearing is on the 18th of August.” He reminds her.

“Yup. I’ll remember.” She says, with a hint of sarcasm and gives him a sly smile.

He smiles brightly at her and she can feel the warmth in it. She’s thinking maybe this guy isn’t so bad. Maybe this is someone she could confide in. She quickly pushes those thoughts far away when her mom’s beat up blue car screeches up, going up over the curb a little bit then coming back down. She can see her mother’s rage from here. She can also smell the whiskey and she is already bracing herself, taking a deep breath. Her mother steps out of the car and she is seething.

“WHAT THE HELL DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS HUH? WHAT KIND OF FAMILY DO I HAVE HUH?!” Her mother screams.

Lexa glances over at Marcus and can see him beginning to feel uncomfortable. He begins to introduce himself.

“Hi i’m Marcus Kane. I’m your daughter’s public defender.”

“Great. You want to explain to me how I got stuck with two fuck ups?!” She says, clearly trying her best at a joke with her lawyer. “Get in the car Lexa.”

Lexa looks down solemn and says a quiet “alright” before her mom yells again, “NOW LEXA!”

She glances over at Kane who gives her a look of concern before he gently grabs her arm and takes out a card. He grabs a pen out of his jacket pocket and scribbles something down on the back. 

“I want to give you my card. In case you have any questions or just want to talk. Or you know, need someone. My cell phone number is on the back.” He says and gives her a smile.

Lexa looks at it like it’s foreign. This lawyer keeps surprising her. She’s wondering when her luck is going to run out.

“Thanks.” She says sincerely and gets into her moms car before she can yell at her again in front of this nice guy.

//

 

 

Her mother stayed silent, just mumbling under her breath the entire drive back to the house. They pull up to her beaten down, 3 bedroom home. Weeds growing in the yard. Her bike laying on the side of the house. Her mother gets out in a huff and storms through the front door. Lexa climbs out of the car and walks into her house. She sees her mother’s moocher of a boyfriend, Pete, sitting in the recliner, cigarette smoke all around and a beer in his hand watching TV. She looks past him to the kitchen and sees her mom pouring herself more whiskey. Her mom’s hand shaking as she pours and she knows it’s about to happen.

“I can’t keep doing this, Lexa.” She says. Lexa is surprised by how heartbroken her mother actually sounds. Maybe she is wrong about everyone today.

“I know. I’m sorry mom.” She says quietly.

Her mom takes a deep sigh, and then she reminds Lexa why she shouldn’t trust her inner monologue.

“I want you out of this house.”

Lexa is actually stunned. Anya had been arrested a couple of times before and she was never kicked out. She cannot believe this is actually happening.

“But mom..wh…where am I gonna go?!” Lexa asks, her voice breaking.

“I don’t care, just get out!”

Then Pete has the nerve to speak out, “C’mon man, listen to your mom and get out of the house.”

Lexa is now furious. and she feels her temper starting to boil. 

“Hey this isn’t even your house, man. Why don’t you worry about your own kids and stop freeloading off my mom!” She yells.

Pete stands up ready to strike Lexa but her mom comes over and stops it, then yelling at Lexa, “Lexa just get out!”.

Lexa decides it’d probably be better if she does leave for a few days, before she beats the shit out of Pete. She runs into her room, grabs her backpack and throws some clothes into it and runs out the door. Making sure to slam it on her way out.

She goes to the side of the house and grabs her bike and peddles far away from her life. She arrives at a grocery store, she sees the pay phone and decides to ask some friends if she can stay on their couch for a couple of days. She knows her mom. Her mom will cool off in a couple of days and let her back home. She knows her mom loves her. Loves Anya. She knows this is temporary. 

She first calls her friend Lincoln. He’s always been like an older brother to her. He answers but tells her he doesn’t have the room. Lincoln has always taken people who were in a bad way in. It’s his nature. She’s a little disappointed that he does’t have the room but she understands.

She tries Indra, one of Anya’s friends, but she also can’t have Lexa there. It’s at this moment that Lexa realizes, she should have tried harder at school to make some friends. She could always try Costia, her ex-girlfriend. But they broke up awhile back and things have been awkward. She doesn’t think she could handle hanging with her for a couple of days. She then remembers the card. Maybe this is the time to really test her luck. She decides to call Marcus’s cell phone. She’s nervous and is wondering if he’s so overworked that he doesn’t even remember her. But one thing she does know is that his smile was genuine. His words to her were that of a caring father’s. She dials the number and it rings about 3 times before he picks up.

//

 

 

She waits by the grocery store sitting on her bike. Marcus said he could probably get to her in about 45 minutes. Just as she’s starting to slightly doze off he pulls up in a Mercedes Benz car. She’s definitely surprised by that revelation. Anya would be pissing herself if she knew Lexa was getting into a brand new Mercedes Benz. Marcus puts her bike in the trunk and he climbs in and off they go.

They drive through the neighborhoods she knows so well. She looks at the run-down houses and graffiti everywhere. Soon they are reaching pass Chino and headed south. Lexa then sees that they are headed towards Orange County and she is slightly surprised. She’s never been there but from what she knows, it’s filled with nothing but rich people. After awhile they make it to the Pacific Coast Highway and she is absolutely mesmerized by the beaches and clear blue water. She’s use to the trash riddled beaches by her home. She sees all the people playing beach volleyball, long boarding on the pedestrian road by the beach, and riding bikes. She then takes a moment and looks around the car and then over to Marcus who has a slight grin on his face. She decides to ask him how in the world he can afford to live in this beautiful place.

“You know, this is a nice car. I didn’t know your kind of lawyer made this kind of money.” She implies the question. Thinking it rude to just flat out ask how much money he makes.

Marcus smirks and simply answers, “We don’t. But my wife does.”

This amuses Lexa slightly. She figured people in this community were probably very traditional. Man goes to work, wife stays home. She’s seen the reality shows of the Real Housewives. They are pretty looney Housewives. Knowing that Marcus’s wife is actually the breadwinner of the family makes her impression of him even better.

Not long after arriving in Orange County, Newport Beach to be exact, are they descending a hill to a gated community. After checking in quickly with the man at the security gate they begin driving again. At this point the sun is gone and night has come. Lexa is already fairly tired. The stress of the day catching up to her.

They arrive at a gorgeous Spanish-style home. A black Range Rover sits in front of the 3 car garage. Lexa begins to pinch herself a little and is happy that she let herself decide to test her luck with this guy. They sit for a moment before Marcus tells her, “Let me go talk to the wife real quick, I’ll be back.” He then amusedly takes the key out of the ignition, looks at the key, and then back over at Lexa. She smirks and says,“It’s no fun if the key’s in the car.” Marcus chuckles and puts the key back in the ignition and is on his way into the gorgeous house. Lexa can’t help but hope that Marcus’s wife is just as nice and laid back as he is.

//

 

 

“You brought her home?!” Abby exclaims.

“It’s just for the weekend.” 

“This is not a stray puppy, Marcus.”

“I know that, Abby.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time before you started bringing home felons.” Abby scoffs. She begins moving stuff around the kitchen trying to busy herself.

“Oh, c’mon Abby. She’s not gonna be a felon when I’m done with it. Have a little faith in me!” Marcus tries to joke.

Abby looks at him sternly and he goes over to her and wraps his arms around her waist.

“What if she’s just using you to case the house? Did you even think of Clarke?” Abby asks with concern, searching Marcus’s eyes for a moment.

“Abby, she’s not a criminal mastermind. She’s a kid who has no one and nowhere to go.” Abby pushes off of Marcus to put some dishes in the sink.

“When did you become so cynical?” Marcus asks with a hint of sarcasm.

“When did you become so self-righteous?” Abby shoots back.

“I’ve always been self-righteous. You used to find it charming.” Marcus jokes as he pulls Abby in once more. Abby smiles and gives him a quick kiss before pulling away from him and walking out of the kitchen.

“She can sleep in the pool house.” Abby remarks behind her shoulder.

“Where you going?” Marcus calls out to her. She stops and turns around to look at him.

“To put my jewelry in the vault.” Abby jokes but she can tell by Marcus’s face that he doesn’t realize she’s joking. “Where do you think I’m going? The girl is going to need fresh sheets and a toothbrush.”

Marcus beams and decides to head out of the house to grab Lexa.

 

Lexa doesn’t get the full tour of the house. She just went through the living room, kitchen, and out to the pool house. But judging by that alone, this house is already 100 times more big than her own house. Marble flooring throughout. She can tell Abby is nervous around her but is being very polite to her. Abby, Marcus and Lexa stand in the pool house after Abby has set down clean sheets and a couple pillows.

“There’s a bathroom back there if you need to use it. There’s not a TV in here though…so… I guess you can…” Abby starts but Lexa cuts her off.

“It’s okay, i’m probably just going to sleep. Thank you…very much though.” Lexa stammers out nervously.

“Well if you need anything, just let me know.” Marcus says. There’s a beat and the three of them exchange awkward smiles and glances until Abby begins to open the door and Marcus follows behind her.

Lexa drops her backpack on the floor and looks around at the pool house. There’s pool floats on the side stacked up. a couch near the floats. In the middle of the room is a platform bed. It looks incredibly expensive and probably feels expensive too. At the back of the shack is a half kitchen/bar area. Next to that is a door that looks to be to the bathroom. Almost the entire shack is covered in windows, luckily there are blackout blinds on each window. Lexa takes in her living situation and collapses on the bed. She was right, this bed just feels expensive. It’s probably worth more than her life, she thinks.

She decides to take a quick shower. The bathroom is probably the nicest bathroom she has ever seen. Much like the brief tour of the house, it’s marble flooring. She sits under the steam of the shower contemplating the events of the past few days and how the hell she ended up here. She’s definitely not complaining, but the entire situation is complicated and confusing to her. No one in her life has ever shown her this much kindness. She gets out and dresses in sweatpants and a loose tank-top and climbs into the expensive bed. The minute her head hits the soft pillow her thoughts go blank and she is fast asleep.

 

The next morning she awakes and steps out of the pool house and almost believes she is still dreaming. The backyard has a view of the ocean and beach. An infinity pool stretches out to the end of the yard towards the view. There’s nothing but patio space near the house. An outdoor grill built in between a space by the pool house and main house. Lexa takes her surroundings in and takes a deep breath. The air somehow feels fresher and cleaner here. It’s almost like she can breath again.

She decides to head into the house hoping to find Marcus. She’s still a little uncomfortable with Abby but she figures it’s probably because she hasn’t really talked to her. But then again, she hasn’t really talked to Marcus either, but for some reason she feels at ease with him.

She steps inside and sees a girl sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking at the screen of a TV with an nintendo controller in her hand. The girl has brown hair and tan skin. She looks to be incredibly athletic. She turns to look over at Lexa and nods her head up and just simply says “Hey.” Lexa doesn’t really know what else to say so she just says “Hey” back. There’s a beat of awkward silence before the girl turns back to her and just asks, “do you wanna play?” while lifting up the controller. Lexa figures it probably wouldn’t hurt and she simply nods.

 

While playing Mario Kart, Lexa learns that this girl actually doesn’t live here. Her name is Raven Reyes. She also talks a lot Lexa is finding out. Raven actually lives next door, but her mom is gone 10 months out of the year almost every year because of her job, so Marcus and Abby have sort of taken to watching her and making sure she stays out of trouble. Lexa learns that Abby and Marcus do have a daughter their age named Clarke. But Raven isn’t friends with her anymore and hasn’t been for awhile. She’s not sure why though. Clarke is actually Marcus’s step-daughter. She’s rarely around these days because, according to Raven, “She’s Newport’s darling princess and everyone wants a taste of her 24/7.” Lexa’s not sure what that means so she just nods along.

The two of them get into an intense game of Mario Kart and actually begin yelling at each other.

“Sorry about the banana peel but I gotta win this!” Raven exclaims

“Aw c’mon, I haven’t played this game since I was seven!” Lexa retorts back

“Really? Cause it doesn’t show, I need all the help I can get!”

Raven ends up beating Lexa and she screams in excitement. All Lexa can do is laugh. She’s never really met anyone that she has clicked with on a friend-level so quickly.

“Oh, you know what we could play? Grand Theft Auto, it’s pretty cool, you can like steal cars and…” Raven catches what she says and her cheeks pink in embarrassment and she begins stumbling over her words. “Not that that’s cool…or…uh…uncool. I don’t know.”

Lexa just smirks cause she can tell this girl is trying. Right as she’s about to answer, Marcus comes in through the front door. He looks very different from yesterday. Wearing just shorts and a t-shirt.

“Ah I see you two have met!” 

“Clearly we have, and i’ve killed her 3 times in Mario Kart. Although she puts up a good fight.” Raven says

“If she does then i’m assuming you used your dirty tricks to get the wins.” 

“I never do that.” Raven blinks at him innocently.

“Sure you don’t.” Marcus says rolling his eyes. He begins putting stuff away in the kitchen and then calls out to Raven, “Hey why don’t you show her around Newport?”

“Cause there is so much to do here.” Raven’s sarcasm clearly evident.

“Awe c’mon Raven, get out and go do things, instead of hanging around here or going home and reading your space books.” Marcus pleads.

 

“Alright, let’s go!” Raven says. She gets up dramatically and pulls Lexa up to her feet. Lexa changes into shorts and a t-shirt before they leave. The two then leave out the front door and head to Raven’s house. They go past a little bit to a trail that leads straight down to the ocean. When they arrive there’s a little catamaran boat that says “Zero-G” and Raven uses her strength to pull it towards the tide. The two climb on and Raven begins sailing the little boat. Lexa can’t help but smile. She’s never done anything like this on the ocean before. All she’s done is surf, smoke pot on the beach, and get drunk at bon-fires. That’s all she’s thought beaches and the ocean were good for. Raven stops sailing after awhile and just lets them drift in the middle of the ocean. Lexa decides to just sit back and enjoy the quiet but Raven’s got other plans.

“So i’m huge into space if you couldn’t tell.” Raven breaks through the silence

“Yeah I figured with Marcus’s comments and the name of your boat.”

“Yeah. This boat is good though. At some point I want to sail to Tahiti with it. I’ve mapped it out already and it’s not far from here. Just catch fresh fish off the side of the boat. Be nice, and peaceful…quiet.” Raven drops her head a little.

Lexa thinks that would be nice but it would definitely get lonely.

“Wouldn’t you get lonely?” Lexa asks

“Well I have this plan this school year to talk to the girl I’ve had a crush on since we were five. It’s kind of my goal for the year. She acts like your typical Newport bitch but I’ve seen her when she’s by herself and I can tell it’s all just a front. I want to actually get to know her again. She’s actually Clarke’s, the girl you have yet to meet, best friend. Her name is Octavia.” Raven gets out.

“You’ve watched her while she was by herself?” Lexa questions with a cocked eyebrow. She’s now starting to wonder if Raven may be unstable.

“Woah no no no, not like that. Just like we’ll be in the library at the same time and i’ll catch glimpses of her. Or the courtyard at school while eating lunch. Not like a peeping tom or something. That’d be fucking crazy!” Raven laughs.

“So you’ve just never talked to her?” Lexa asks

“I had a long time ago. We all use to be friends actually. But as all of us got older everyone started sort of drifting apart into their own cliques. Well I guess mostly everyone decided to just keep me out of the loop, but whatever.” Raven bitterly states.

Lexa ponders on that for a second. Then Raven looks over at her. Raven actually seems like a cool girl so she’s wondering why these kids wouldn’t want her around.

The two head back after a few hours in the sun. Marcus is waiting for them and the three of them help pull the little catamaran back onto the beach.

“So Raven, you are coming with us to Clarke’s fund raiser right?” Marcus pointedly asks.

“No way. I can think of nothing more boring than a stuffy nice house, people talking about how rich they are, while they give half-assed donations to some charity she picked out of her ass.” Raven states

“Hey, be nice. Clarke works hard. She does her research and picks ones that matter.” Marcus defends.

Raven just rolls her eyes and waves a hand at him.

Lexa realizes that she’s probably going to have to go with them and the thought of being in a room, of what Raven just described, without Raven, is absolutely daunting. 

“Hey, you know you said it’s Clarke’s thing, so maybe Octavia will be there.” Lexa whispers to Raven.

She can see the wheels turning in Raven’s head until Raven says, “That would make sense.”

Marcus smiles and nudges Lexa as a thank you and simply says, “Come back by the house at 7”.

They all descend up the trail and Lexa can’t help but think about this Clarke girl for some reason. She probably seems mysterious because she hasn’t met her and is only going off of what Raven has said, but she definitely feels a little intimidated. A 17 year old putting an entire fund raising event together? Now that’s a daunting task. She knows she’s bound to run into her at some point this weekend so she might as well get over whatever fear she has of her.

Raven makes Lexa wait outside her house so she can give her a nice dress to wear. It’s a gorgeous dress, black and satin. Raven figured they were the same size and when Lexa puts it on, it’s a perfect fit. Abby comes into the pool house as Lexa just stares at her done up self in the mirror. She sees Abby and smiles. Abby also has a genuine smile on her face as she holds out some heels.

Lexa has never worn heels in her life and she is terrified to say the least. But she wants Abby to feel comfortable around her so she just takes them and puts them on.

“You clean up very nicely, Lexa.” Abby smiles

“Thank you.” She nervously says back

“So Marcus tells me you hung out with Raven today? How was that? She’s a really cool kid once you get to know her. She’s very outspoken though.”

“Yeah I kind of noticed that, but she’s cool.” Lexa says.

The two awkwardly just kind of smile at one another until Abby decides to leave but before lets her know they are all leaving in 5 minutes.

They ride in the black Range Rover Lexa saw when she first pulled up to the gorgeous house. Yup, Anya would definitely be pissing herself from laughing if she could see Lexa right now. She hears Abby and Marcus discussing Clarke and she can’t help but eavesdrop a little since she has yet to even see what this girl looks like.

“I haven’t talked to her or seen her in a couple of days. I think there might be something wrong.” Abby says with nothing but concern in her voice.

“I’m sure she’s fine. She’s just working hard and she’s a teenager. They’re moody and don’t want to hang with their parents all the time.” Marcus reassures her. He places a hand on her leg and Lexa can’t remember the last time she saw a genuine connection between two people. She’s use to parental figures hitting one another and getting sloppy drunk. It’s weird to see Marcus and Abby actually be gentle and caring towards one another.

They pull up to a huge mansion. It’s massive and lavish. Something out of an architecture book. There’s fountains everywhere and string lights. A stair case leads up to huge French doors. There are lots of people dressed to the nines entering the mansion. Lexa takes a deep breath while getting out of the car. ‘Here we go’ she thinks to herself.

They enter and Marcus and Abby are greeted by multiple people. Lexa looks around and is completely mesmerized by the sight. It’s a huge ballroom with tables set up. Waiters walking around with champagne and appetizers. She can see where people are writing checks and putting them into a box. There’s crystal everywhere. People are chatting amongst others. Lexa can’t help but wonder why the hell she is here. Raven helps get her out of her own head by leaning into her ear and whispers “Welcome to the dark side.” She grabs her arm and they begin to make their way around the party.

It becomes clear to Lexa after about 30 minutes that people know who she is. Well, more like they think they know who she is.

“Did I hear correct that you’re Kane’s younger sister from Seattle?” one woman asked.

“The cousin from Boston right?” Another woman asked.

“You’re the girl from Canada.” One man bluntly stated. Lexa just nodded and said yes to every question she was asked. She felt like if these people knew the real truth, she’d be kicked out on her ass from this party. Even if the family that has taken her in temporarily’s daughter is technically throwing it.

It begins to get stuffy inside. She hears all about how people just waste their money and time in the community and she thinks about what her own community would use the money for if they had it. It’s annoying to think about and she decides she needs a break.

She slips into the backyard, and of course, the view is massive. An almost 360 degree view of the ocean. She decides it’s been awhile since she actually had a cigarette and she decides it will calm her nerves. She pulls the pack of menthol Marlboro’s out of the clutch Raven let her borrow and she begins lighting it. She doesn’t notice the girl to her right taking deep breaths, leaning against a plotted plant, until she takes her first drag of the smoke. It’s dark outside now, only a dim light outside in the backyard.

From what she can see, the girl looked absolutely stunning. She was probably a little shorter than Lexa. Blonde messy and wavy hair. Wearing a gold dress that has a slit that goes pretty far up her leg with no heels on. She is curvy but small. The gorgeous girl looks over towards Lexa and has a smirk and a piqued interest written on her face that Lexa can pick out in the dark.

“Who are you?” She rasps out

“No one in particular.” Lexa says playfully as a smirk forms on her mouth

“Okay.” The girl says. Turning her attention back to the view. Lexa notices her glancing over once again from the corner of her eye and then she asks, “can I bum a cigarette?”

Lexa doesn’t say anything and just walks towards her. She sees the girls face more clearly now and it is just as stunning. She has piercing blue eyes, long eyelashes and a freckle above her lip and a dimple in her chin. Lexa can’t help but feel a flutter in her chest. She reaches back into the clutch and pulls out the pack and gives the girl a cigarette. Instead of getting the lighter back out she takes her own cigarette out of her mouth and uses the burning end to light the girls. The girl smiles wide and looks quite enchanted by Lexa’s action. Lexa would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t flirting. Nope. Not at all.

The girl takes a drag and almost seductively blows out the smoke before starting up again, “So what are you doing here? Seriously?” she asks with a cocked eyebrow in a slight accusatory tone.

“So asks the girl who has seemed to misplace her shoes. This place seems a little formal to be doing that.” Lexa jokes with a cocked eyebrow pointing down at her feet.

The girl just gives her a shy smile and says, “I’ll find them. Now answer the question.”

For some reason Lexa has a need to tell this stranger the truth. She doesn’t know why, maybe it’s the slight nicotine buzz and her need to flirt with this girl. But she feels the truth on the tip of her tongue and decides to roll with it.

“Well, I stole a car. Crashed it… actually my sister did. Since she had a gun and drugs on her, she’s in jail. I got out and then my mom threw me out. She was pissed off and drunk. So Mr. Kane took me in.” During her confession she didn’t realize how close her and this girl got. There was maybe a few inches of personal space and she can see those bright blue eyes searching her emerald green. She may have even seen the girl glance at her lips for a second or that is just what she is imagining. The girl gives Lexa a sheepish smile and then says, “I thought you were the cousin from Boston hm?” Lexa give a sultry smile back and just says “Right” and begins to back away as she pulls another drag from her cigarette. Their eyes are locked to one another until the back door opens and Marcus comes out. The girl blinks away whatever trance she was in and throws her cigarette down while blowing smoke out of her mouth before drawling out, “Kane, I was just meeting the cousin from Boston.”

Lexa is still smiling at the girl before Kane walks up and looks between the two. She then feels like she should probably break the gaze and looks at Kane. Who looks at her cigarette in her hand. Lexa figures she should probably drop it and stomp on it.

“I’m glad to see you two have finally met. Clarke, we were afraid you weren’t ever coming home. Ran away to the circus or something.” He says jokingly.

Lexa then realizes the girl she has been flirting with for the past few minutes is Clarke. The family that took her in’s daughter. Great.

“A better circus obviously.” Clarke jokes back.

“The event is beautiful. A lot of people showed up. I’m so proud of you… why are you two out here?” Marcus questions with a slight smirk on his face.

“This has been my life for the past 3 weeks. I want a break from it.” She sighs. She looks back over towards Lexa and then states, “You’ve been here maybe an hour and you already need a break. I don’t know if that means it’s going over very well.”

Lexa can sense an almost solemn tone in her voice. And now she feels bad about being out here. Not enjoying herself inside.

“No, it’s very beautiful and it’s for a great cause. Just…you know, got a little stuffy in there.”

“Trust me, I know how that can be.” Kane says with a smile.

Clarke also gives her a shy smile as she tucks a piece of her hair behind her ear. Lexa can’t help but smile back at her. They are then interrupted by a young man in a suit as he comes up from behind Clarke and gives her a kiss on the head. It startles Clarke a little bit but when she looks up to see who it is, she softens.

“What are you doing out here? It’s your party.” The young man asks

“Just needed to take a breather, calm down.” Clarke says defensively

She notices Marcus’s face has hardened. Lexa is pretty sure she hadn’t seen Marcus’s face harden that much before. She thought it was probably impossible. This guy has definitely made the impossible happen. 

“Well let’s go back inside, yeah?” He says as he drags Clarke by the wrist and back inside. Clarke gives Lexa one last glance and a slight smile before returning to the party.

Lexa is slightly amused at the fact that she can hear the young man ask why she has her shoes off and why she smells like smoke and who that girl was.

Lexa then realizes that Marcus’s face is still hardened and gives him a look of questioning with a smirk on her face. He just laughs and shakes his head and says, “It’s a long story, but his name is Finn. We should probably go back and face these stuck up Newpsies together huh.”

Lexa can’t help but smile and she hooks her arm around Marcus’s and they walk back in. Lexa can’t help but search for Clarke in the crowded room once they enter.

After hanging out with Marcus and Abby for a little bit she finds Raven sitting at a kid’s table arguing with them about physics. Lexa decides to grab Raven and get her away from the kids before she punches one in the face when the little boy begins to tell Raven the absolute wrong reason for gravity on purpose. Knowing he can get a rise out of her.

When Raven is away the two decide to walk around the party some more.

“What is happening to the world?! That kid needs a general science book smacked upside his head.” She says, completely serious.

Lexa shakes her head and decides to switch the subject, “So I finally met Clarke.” And when she says that she can’t help the sheepish smile that’s on her face.

“Oh yeah? What’s with the shit eating grin? Was Octavia with her or something?…Wait did Octavia mention me?!” Raven begins shouting out more questions and Lexa has to calm her down.

“No no no, Raven, it was just Clarke. She actually seems pretty cool. A lot different than what you were describing earlier.” Lexa states. Raven looks at her pointedly and suspicious.

“What’d she do, pull the Griffin charm on ya?” Raven asks. For some reason Lexa can’t help the pink that inches their way onto her cheeks and Raven gasps incredibly loud. So loud that people turn around and look at them weird.

“You like her don’t you?! Oh man this is so good. I thought my night was going to be boring here.” She excitedly states.

“Oh c’mon I hardly know her.” Lexa says while rolling her eyes.

“Well you better tell your cheeks that cause she’s coming over here.” Raven says.

Lexa feels her cheeks burn even more as she whips around but no one is there and Raven busts out laughing.

“Oh my god! That was too good. Oh man that was way too easy.” Raven tries catching her breath but can’t quit laughing. People are starting to just stare at them and it’s making Lexa very uncomfortable until she gets a tap on the shoulder. She turns around and green meets blue once more.

Clarke looks over at Raven with a furrowed brow before looking back at Lexa and asking, “Is…is she okay?”

Before Lexa can answer Raven stops laughing and answers for her, “Oh yeah Griffin, Lexa is just really good at telling jokes ya know?”

Clarke looks at Lexa and smiles a bright smile, then says, “i’m sure she does,” which makes Lexa’s already burning cheeks hurt even more. Clarke and Lexa stare at each other for a lot longer than they should be before Lexa decides to break the gaze by looking down at her hands. Raven breaks the silence.

“So, Clarke. Not that I don’t mind you actually noticing me for once, but could we help you with something?” Raven asks, rather rudely.

Clarke just rolls her eyes and begins, “Actually, Raven, I was wondering if you two wanted to come to our after party at Nate Miller’s beach house?”

Raven scoffs, “Yeah no thanks.”

Clarke rolls her eyes again and looks back at Lexa, she stares at her for awhile and asks, “What about you? I’d like it if you came.” For some reason, it was dripping with suggestion and Lexa had to look over at Raven with a furrowed brow to make sure she was not imagining it. She wasn’t, as Raven cocked an eyebrow at Lexa.

“We’ll see.” She says quietly. Clarke flashes her a grin and walks away. But not before Lexa says,”Glad to see you’ve found your shoes. How dare a princess attend her ball without any shoes?” Clarke blushes and gives her a grin and just shakes her head and walks away. Lexa watches her disappear into the crowd before turning over to Raven who has a weird look on her face.

“What?” She asks

“I mean, most people fall in love with Griff pretty quickly, but shit. I almost felt perverted watching you two eye-fucking through that exchange.” Raven smirks.

Lexa just rolls her eyes. “You know, I bet Octavia will be at that party. Maybe now’s your chance to get to know her again?” Lexa suggests avoiding Raven’s comment about her and Clarke.

Just like when they came back from sailing and this party was suggested, Lexa can see the wheels turning in her head.

“Yeah. I guess… But if I want to leave, we’re leaving.” She says sternly.

Lexa nods and smiles bright. Already anticipating seeing Clarke again.

//

 

 

Raven and Lexa left the fund raising event after Abby let Raven take the Range Rover so they could go back to the house and change into more comfortable clothes. Lexa decides to wear her signature white v-neck, black ripped skinny jeans, white vans, and her leather jacket. They head to this Nate guy’s house.

There’s a lot of people and a lot of really expensive cars is all Lexa can think when they arrive. The beach house is literally right on the beach, which means whoever this Nate guy is, is probably loaded. Or at least his parents are. Lots of girls screaming at one another, acting like they haven’t seen each other in years when in reality, they saw each other maybe 30 minutes ago. 

Raven and Lexa make their way to the front door and enter and Lexa instantly feels like she found a piece of Chino in this fantasy land called Newport.

The music is something from the current Top 40. Sweaty bodies are grinding everywhere. On the couch there are stoners smoking out of bongs, some people snorting cocaine. Drunk people everywhere. People making out in dark corners. 

Lexa can’t help the smirk that forms with her lips as she leans over to whisper into a wide-eyed Raven’s ear, “Welcome to the dark side.”

Raven just nods her head, looking wide eyed as she glances over to the kids snorting cocaine and just says to herself, “Wow, cocaine…that’s…awesome.” 

The two make their way into the party, Lexa being able to navigate these waters a lot easier than at the fund raiser. Raven just lets Lexa take the lead. They find a table that has all sorts of alcohol on it and Lexa fixes herself and Raven a drink. Raven takes a sip and winces a little, on her second sip, she’s fine. Lexa gets caught up in conversations with random people. All of them thinking she’s a cousin from Boston. She talks to two funny nerds named Monty and Jasper, who seem very out of place at this party, but she doesn’t question it. 

Raven ends up getting separated from Lexa at some point and she decides to try and navigate through the unfamiliar territory herself.

She goes into a bathroom and sees three people, definitely having sex in a bathtub.

“WOW, i’m sorry. I should really learn to knock…in case, there’s a threesome going on in the bathroom.” She says as she closes the door behind her.

Yeah, this is going to be a long night.

//

 

 

Clarke sees Lexa and Raven enter the party and tries to make her way over to them, but of course she keeps getting stopped by everyone. Clarke can’t help it but she is drawn to Lexa for some reason. She knows what Lexa told her outside of the party was all true, as Kane, her step-father, sent her a text about it after her mother texted her trying to play it off like Lexa was actually a cousin from Boston.

Her thoughts of Lexa are interrupted when her best friend Octavia comes over, clearly intoxicated and slurring.

“Who was that girl that walked in with Reyes? Also why is Reyes here?!” Octavia shouts over the music.

“Uh…I don’t know.” That’s all Clarke can get out. She actually really doesn’t know Lexa or who she is so she figures it’d just be better to play dumb.

“Well she’s fine as hell, I’m gonna play her hot and cold.” Octavia slurs while giving a kiss to Clarke’s cheek and walking away. For some reason, Clarke’s stomach twists at the thought of Octavia being interested in Lexa. She knows she should push that away, she has to keep up the front of having a boyfriend for Finn’s sake. Even though this lie is killing her each day. She figures the way to push those thoughts away is to start drinking them away. She looks around to make sure no one is paying attention to her as she downs half a bottle of vodka. The last thing she needs is someone starting a rumor that she’s an alcoholic.

She mingles with friends around the party for awhile until she spots Lexa, finally alone sipping on a beer. She can’t help the smile that comes to her lips as she approaches this ridiculously attractive girl. Her green eyes looking into her eyes alone, is making her think she’s having a stroke. Heat stroke, that is.

“Hey” Clarke gets out

Lexa turns around and sees her, giving her a smile that makes Clarke’s stomach flip, or maybe it’s the vodka. ‘Yeah definitely the vodka’ she tells herself.

“Hey yourself.” Lexa smirks

“So how are you liking Newport?”

Lexa turns her head slightly to the side and she gives Clarke a sly smile and says, “I honestly think I could get in less trouble where i’m from.” Clarke’s stomach is now doing somersaults.

“You have no idea.” Clarke says with a lot of flirtation in her voice and a cocked eyebrow.

They both stare at one another for awhile. It’s like their eyes can have endless conversations and Clarke almost feels a pull to just kiss this girl she really hardly knows. But she’s pulled from the fantasy when one of her friends, Harper, comes up behind her and tells her they need her for blackjack as the dealer. She smiles at Lexa and decides to invite her to join.

//

 

 

They sit at a table towards the middle of the room as Clarke deals out the cards. Lexa is playing with Harper, Monty, Jasper, the guy Nate, who’s parents own the house, and Octavia. Octavia is definitely beautiful she realizes. She has dark hair, a button nose and very green eyes. Her skin is tan from this past summer. She can get now why Raven would be attracted to her…physically. But she is quickly finding Octavia to be quite shallow, that or very very drunk. Also, Octavia can’t help but keep stroking Lexa’s arm and leaning her head on her, which is making her kind of uncomfortable.

Clarke keeps giving them both looks as Lexa tries her hardest to be polite towards Octavia. One thing Lexa has noticed though, every time Octavia tries to make a move on Lexa, Clarke throws back her drink and pours herself more. She’s pretty sure Clarke would have to be super drunk right now but the girl doesn’t show it.

After quite a few hands, Lexa winning almost every single time, Octavia decides to spill her drink on Lexa’s pants. And from there, it just gets more and more uncomfortable.

“Jesus, O!” Clarke yells

“Uh oh, oops. I’m totally wasted, let’s go get that cleaned up for you.” Octavia says with nothing but suggestion in her voice.

“It’s okay, really, I just need a rag or something.” Lexa says

Octavia then grabs Lexa’s hand and pulls her up. Octavia then grabs a paper towel and starts very suggestively rubbing the crotch of Lexa’s pants. Just as Lexa begins to grab Octavia’s hands to get them away from her, a clearly very drunk Raven sees them.

“What. The. Fuck.” Raven spits out with nothing but contempt.

“Raven…she’s drunk…it’s literally not what you’re thinking.” Lexa tries to explain.

“I thought we were friends?!” Raven yells. As she begins to walk away Lexa grabs her arm to try and explain the situation to her but Raven just spins around and spits out, “You know what, why don’t you just go back to Chino? I’m sure there’s a really nice car in the parking lot that you can steal.” She shrugs her shoulders and walks out of the sliding door and towards the beach leaving Lexa there absolutely embarrassed.

Everyone at the party is looking at her like she has worms coming out of her ears. People are whispering to the other but not taking their eyes off Lexa. She can see Clarke approaching her in her peripheral view but she can feel the sting in her eyes and walks out the sliding door to get away from the judgmental stares.

She walks a little on the deck until she feels someone grab her arm. She looks up and Clarke is standing next to her, with nothing but softness in her eyes.

“Don’t worry about those guys. They all suck.” Clarke shrugs

“Why are you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.” Lexa questions. Clarke searches her emerald green eyes for an answer it seems. There’s a beat as the two just stare intently in one another’s eyes. Then Clarke speaks,

“You’re right, I don’t really know you. But I know my step-dad, and I trust him. I can tell that you’re not the girl that Raven just described. Maybe we haven’t said much to one another and I haven’t been around but…” She swallows and takes a deep breath and continues, “I really want to get to know you now that I know 100% you’re not a cousin from Boston.” She smirks.

Lexa smiles and lets out a light chuckle. The two keep their eyes locked and this time, Lexa is sure that Clarke glanced at her lips. Then Clarke opens her mouth to speak, “Let’s go find somewhere quiet…” Clarke isn’t able to finish her thought though when they both hear Octavia yelling at Harper about something inside. Clarke looks back inside then back at Lexa with nothing but an apology written on her face.

“It’s okay. You should go deal with that. I need to find Raven anyways.” Lexa gives her a warm smile and Clarke surprises Lexa when she leans in to place a kiss on her cheek. It’s warm and it lingers a little longer than it should. Lexa’s stomach flips from the action. Clarke pulls away and gives her a sultry smile before walking back into the crowded house. Just as she disappeared before during the fund raising party, she was gone again. Lexa ponders Clarke’s actions, she then pushes whatever ‘romantic’ feelings she is feeling, remembering, this girl is the daughter of the people who have taken her in. This is wrong. She lets the moment pass and heads towards a bon-fire close to the tide of the ocean.

She walks down the beach a little until she sees Raven. Raven is by a group of very athletic looking people, a lot bigger than her. She can hear the exchanges and knows that Raven is in trouble.

“What are you even doing here Reyes?” A girl asks

“I was invited, can’t I come and enjoy the party?” Raven says

The girl stands up and pushes Raven and she falls back a little.

“Okay, c’mon you guys would’t really try and beat me up because that would be so cliche.” Raven says.

A much taller girl then picks up Raven and all Lexa hears is Raven sarcastically say, “Well I guess you guys are fans of the cliche.”

Lexa runs over before they could hurt Raven and yells, “HEY! Put her down!.”

“Oh hey Lexa.” Raven says giving her a wave.

Lexa steps forward towards the girl holding Raven and sternly says, “Put her down.”

The girl obliges until Lexa hears a somewhat familiar voice say “Hey” at her.

She turns around and sees the same guy that came up behind Clarke earlier at the fund raising event. He’s smirking at Lexa and asks her, “Is there a problem here?”

Nate Miller is not far behind, what’s his name…right, Finn is what Marcus had said. Lexa also notices a girl right by Finn who is buttoning up her shirt as quick as possible but there is no denying the love bites. Lexa knows exactly who this Finn guy is without having ever talked to him. She has seen these types way too many times. Lexa steps forward towards Finn and sizes him up. She has punched bigger guys before.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” Lexa spits

Finn looks at her up and down and steps towards her with a smug grin on his face. Lexa can’t hold it in any longer and right hooks across Finn’s face and he falls to the ground. Instantly, the girls who were trying to beat up Raven double team her and punch Lexa a few times in the face. Punches are flying everywhere, and she sees Raven grab one of the girls who had just punched Lexa to get her off, but then Raven gets sucker punched by the girl and falls into the sand. After Finn composes himself, his jaw reddened, he tells them to stop and just stands above a beaten up Lexa.

“I don’t know who you are, or what you’re doing here, but we’re done.” He sternly states.

He saunters away while chuckling and all Lexa can do is groan in pain.

//

 

 

Lexa had only had two drinks so she drove herself and a very drunk Raven home.

The two walk into the pool house, very exhausted by the nights events. Raven flops on the couch and just sits, staring with an amazed expression on her face as Lexa sits at the edge of the platform bed, lazily taking off her leather jacket.

“Well, I don’t know what to say…” Raven begins, “but you totally had my back out there.”

All Lexa can do is smile a little bit.

“We were like something out of Fight Club.” Raven then begins making karate chop noises. She stops and says” You know what Lexa, I bet if you were to teach me some moves, we could totally take them next time.”

All Lexa can do is chuckle at her new friend.

Raven begins to rest her head on the side of the couch before bringing her feet up while mumbling to Lexa, “I’m not gonna forget this night Lexa, I’ll never forget this night.” And she begins to fall asleep.

Lexa can’t help but feel happy but a little sad for Raven. She’s a fun person to be around. She’s probably been lonely before Lexa showed up here. She doesn’t understand why they all hate her when she has been nothing but kind to her. Apart for the Octavia thing, which is understandable since she was quite drunk and it probably looked awful from her point of view.

Lexa decides to go to the side of the house to smoke a cigarette before she heads to bed. When she does, she hears two voices, voices she’s heard before coming from the front of the house. She peaks around the corner and sees Octavia and Harper trying to carry a passed out Clarke to her doorstep.

“Shit shit, don’t drop her!” Harper giggles.

“She is so dumb sometimes,” Octavia giggles back before Harper drops her legs and Octavia lays her head in her lap laughing uncontrollably. 

“Shouldn’t her boyfriend be doing this?” Harper says in-between laughter.

“He’s a fucking idiot all the time.” Octavia whispers.

Lexa sees Octavia grab a purse and searches through it. 

“Clarkey, where are your keys?!” She whispers to the unconscious girl.

She shuffles through a little more before looking at Harper, “I can’t find her keys.”

“We can’t wake her parents, her mom will go ballistic and call our parents!” Harper sounds worried.

Lexa decides now is probably the time to step in and help them. But before she can make her presence known Octavia gives Clarke a kiss on the head and throws her purse to the side and just says, “bye Clarke,” and hears the chorus of giggles as both girls run and hop into a Jeep Wrangler and pull down the driveway.

Lexa makes her way over to Clarke. She’s wearing a white tank top and shorts. Her flip flops had fallen off and she looks peaceful. She is very much passed out though. Lexa wonders if she should just go in the house and wake Marcus but decides against it because it’s way past 3 am and she would rather Clarke not get in trouble for being this drunk.

She decides to carry Clarke and let her sleep in the pool house with her and Raven. She sits Clarke up and puts Clarke’s arms around her neck as Lexa reaches around her back and puts her hand on Clarke’s waist and lifts her up with little effort. She hears Clarke let out a soft mumble before she feels Clarke’s arms tighten slightly around her neck as her face cuddles into the dip of her neck. She stands up, holding Clarke bridle style and she makes her way to the backyard.

She begins the walk towards the pool house and opens the door, hoping not to wake Raven. Raven is slightly snoring and she’s confident that won’t be a problem. She tries moving the covers down on the bed with her feet so she can continue holding Clarke. She succeeds and then lays Clarke down. She pulls up the covers and tucks her in. She stands up and looks at Clarke’s face illuminated by the moonlight. She can’t help but wonder about this girl. She’s incredibly beautiful. She has an ass of a boyfriend though. But she can tell this girl has a heart of gold. The way she never once had judgement in her eyes when she told her why she was really here. How she had nothing but a kind smile for her. Lexa takes a deep breath and the moment of thinking maybe Clarke likes her passes once more. In the end they come from different sides. A weekend doesn’t change that. 

Lexa goes over to where the pool floats are stacked by the couch and grabs her leather jacket to use as a blanket. She lays down on her stomach and falls straight to sleep, with dreams of blue eyes and small smiles meant for her.

//

 

 

The next morning is one hell of a rude awakening. Abby storms into the pool house slamming the door open and yelling.

“Where were you?! And what happened to your face?!” Abby says looking at Raven.

“Well I got into a fight…” Raven says. She has a nice shiner under her eye now.

“With who? And why?” Abby looks over at Lexa and Lexa already knows she will be blamed for this.

“I don’t really remember, I was really drunk…actually I think I still am.” Raven says nonchalantly.

There’s a slight groan in the room and it’s coming from the platform bed and Clarke says, “Shhh it’s sleep time.”

The way she says it as she waves her hand at her mother makes Lexa want to burst out laughing but she holds it because Abby has a look of murder in her eyes.

“Let’s go, now!” She grabs Raven’s arm and pulls her up and also grabs Clarke’s arm and pulls her out of bed.

“Later, Lexa.” Raven says as Abby gives Lexa one last glare before shutting the pool house door. All Lexa can do is lay her head back down and groan cause she now knows her luck has officially run out.

//

 

Marcus is putting his surf board away in the garage as he sees Abby in her robe approaching him.

“Oh honey, you should have seen these waves, 15 footers it was like…” Abby cuts him off.

“Clarke got drunk.” Abby says and Marcus just smirks a little before she continues, “and Raven got into a fight.”

Marcus is surprised and slightly proud as he says, “She did?”

Abby rolls her eyes, “It’s that kid you brought here. She never would have gotten into a fight.”

“Well at least she has someone to hang out with! Not one of these rich trust fund babies. There’s a whole world outside this Newport Beach bubble!” 

Abby raises her eyebrows, “You don’t seem to mind living in this bubble.”

“That’s because I know that there’s something else out there.” Marcus says with a smile.

There’s a beat between the two before Marcus starts, “they need to broaden their horizons. Hell, that’s the first time Clarke and Raven have hung out in years.”

Abby just shakes her head, “I can’t. I’m sorry. I don’t want this kid in my house anymore.” She says. Her face is soft and pleading as she says this to Marcus. He knows it’s her maternal instinct kicking in. Raven has become her daughter in a way. Abby has practically raised her. Clarke and Raven are her daughters and she feels threatened. Abby turns to walk into the house but Marcus calls out to her.

“Where is she supposed to go Ab’s?” Marcus asks.

Abby turns around, “She has a family Marcus. It’s not up to you to decide whether or not they’re good enough.” Abby purses her lips and turns around to walk into the house.

//

 

Abby walks into the kitchen and sees Lexa by the stove. She takes a deep breath ready for the words to come out,

“Look, Lexa I don’t mean to play the bad cop here but…is that bacon?” Abby asks.

Lexa gives her a half-hearted smile as she flips the bacon over to a plate.

“Yeah, at my house I usually cook breakfast in the mornings.” She says looking down at the plate.

Abby feels nothing but guilt. She knows this girl is probably a very nice person. She got to talk to her some at the party and from the things Marcus has told her, she knows she’s incredibly intelligent. She feels her heart drop, but she knows that in order to keep her family safe this needs to happen.

“Lexa, you seem like you’re a very nice girl you’re very intelligent but…” Lexa cuts her off before she can finish.

“It’s okay. I get it,” Lexa smiles at her and walks over to the table where her already packed backpack is, she sighs and continues, “you have a really nice family.” With that, Lexa walks out of the kitchen leaving Abby with nothing but the taste of guilt on her tongue.

 

Lexa decides to walk over to Raven’s to say goodbye. She decided against saying goodbye to Clarke. She figured Clarke was probably in hangover hell and she didn’t really get to know Clarke as well as she got to know Raven. Who she now considers a friend. Part of her also doesn’t want to have to look into those bright blue eyes. It’d just make the situation more complicated than it already is.

She walks into Raven’s house. It’s similar to the Griffin’s but looks like no one has really lived in it in awhile. She figures that’s because Raven’s mom is always gone and Raven probably spends most of her time at the Griffin’s and just comes home to sleep.

She searches around and then sees a bedroom door closed with a NASA poster on the door. She goes in and there’s a slight hallway before you actually see the room. She looks around the corner and sees Raven curled up, turned over in bed. Pajamas on now. She knocks lightly on the wall to signal her presence. Raven looks over and smiles.

“Hey”

“Hey…so I gotta jet.” Lexa tries to be casual. Raven gets up though, rubbing one eye.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah I gotta go home, take care of some family stuff.” She lies.

“Okay well, i’ll see ya. Hey maybe I can come down and see your ‘hood’ or whatever…I don’t know.” She smiles a nervous smile.

Lexa can’t help the smile that creeps onto her lips.

“Yeah maybe.” Raven surprises Lexa and pulls her into a hug. Lexa is pretty sure she has never been hugged in her life. She has her hands awkwardly outstretched not touching Raven until she figures she should probably return the gesture. She puts her arms around Raven for only a second before Raven pulls away just nodding sheepishly.

Lexa smiles and begins to walk away before being called back by Raven.

“Wait wait hold on…” Raven begins looking around her room. Her room has posters of different indie bands all over the place. Lot’s of NASA lithographs as well. And her ceiling is painted like a starry night. Raven finds whatever she is looking for on her desk and walks over to Lexa handing it to her. It’s a map of Tahiti.

“Name whatever place you want to go. And go.” Raven says.

Lexa has a slight aching feeling knowing she’s probably never going to see Raven again. This girl who has become her friend in a matter of a couple days. Someone who understands her. Lexa looks down and smiles at the folded map before playfully smacking Raven’s face with it,

“Ahhh.” Raven says in a slight laugh. Lexa walks down the little hallway out of Raven’s room while waving back to her.

Lexa walks back to the Griffin’s. Marcus is putting her bike back into the trunk of the Mercedes Benz. He then lets her know he’ll be right back and to go ahead and get in the car. She does and just plays with her fingers for a little while. Before long Marcus is back and puts the key in the ignition and starts it up. As he backs down the driveway Lexa can see Clarke waiting at the end, probably for someone to come pick her up. Clarke’s eyes light up when she sees Lexa and as Lexa’s window goes towards Clarke she sees Clarke smiling that beautiful smile at her and Lexa gives her a half smile back and a nod. The car then pulls away and starts its decent down the hill. But not before Lexa can get one more look at Clarke. She turns around and what she sees is something she has probably never experienced in her life. The sun is right behind Clarke, illuminating her, making her look almost goddess like. She can see Clarke looking at the car as well before another car starts to pull up and Clarke’s gaze with the car breaks. She sees Clarke walk to the passenger door and that’s it. She can’t see her anymore. Disappeared like all those other times their eyes have met. Lexa fixes her gaze back to the windshield. She sits and thinks to herself, if Clarke wasn’t real, she’d probably make her up.

 

//

The drive back to Chino is somewhat long. Marcus and Lexa don’t really speak throughout the ride. It’s not an awkward silence, it’s actually quite comfortable. But she has a feeling Marcus is probably also dreading taking her back home. 

They arrive to Lexa’s house, and it now looks smaller than it had. Marcus turns off the car and they both sit there for a moment before Lexa speaks.

“So thanks, for everything, really.”

Marcus sighs, “I’m gonna make sure everything works out, Lexa.” And this time, Lexa knows he means it. She gives him a small smile while she opens the car door. 

Marcus gets out as well and helps get her bike from the trunk of the car. Marcus begins walking with Lexa to her front door before Lexa stops him.

“It’s okay, I got it from here.” Marcus just nods and hangs back.

Lexa puts her bike on the side of the house and then walks back to the front door. She takes deep breaths as she finds her keys. She’s ready to find Pete sitting in the recliner, smoking and drinking beer. She’s ready to find her mother looking at her, probably buzzed, and not say anything as Lexa moves to go to her room. That’s what she’s expecting.

But it is definitely not what she gets.

She opens the door to find nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is no furniture. No TV. No Pete. No mom. Just strewn garbage here and there. For a moment Lexa thinks maybe she’s in the wrong house. But she sees a dent in the wall where her mother drunkenly tried to hit Anya, but Anya ducked and she missed and hit the wall and she knows this is the right house. Lexa slightly panics, leaving the door wide open and runs to the kitchen, and then towards the bedrooms. There’s nothing here. She goes back to the kitchen and sees it. A lousy note written on a paper towel from her mom.

Lexa,

We won’t be here when you get back.

-Mom

Lexa leans her head onto the cabinet as she reads over those words. Her eyes are stinging. She feels absolutely empty.

Marcus comes in and looks like he’s about to tap on the door when he sees the empty house. Lexa doesn’t notice him by the doorway at first but then she sees him and she doesn’t even know what excuse she could make up right now.

Marcus gives her a soft smile, nudges his head back towards the car and says, “C’mon, let’s go.”

Lexa just nods and walks over to pick her backpack off the floor. She walks by Marcus who is by the door. He puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder as he shuts the door on her old life.


	2. The Runaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Clarke, Raven, and Lexa. Some sweet and intense Clexa. We learn a secret about Finn and Clarke's relationship. Oh the drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so overwhelmed by the positive response of this story. I hope you enjoy this next installment. I'm going to try and update at least once a week. If you ever have any questions go ahead and hit up my ask box on Tumblr: cohenatwood.tumblr.com.

It has been a little over a week since Lexa’s life was flipped upside down. Since her mother left a cheap note on a paper towel. Since her mother left. Her mother left. 

The initial shock has worn off and now she just feels hollow when she thinks of it. Luckily she has had many distractions since. Raven has taken her under her wing and, besides the occasional word vomit from Raven about Lexa technically being an orphan, Raven has kept her occupied. Another surprise has been Clarke. Lexa has noticed the blue eyed beauty has been staying home a lot more than usual. Something Marcus even brought up recently; two nights ago when they were all eating Chinese take-out. Lexa tried to not notice Clarke’s blush and stammering when Marcus teased her about it. But it failed. Now Lexa finds herself trying to make Clarke blush a lot more than she should be doing. Clarke has a boyfriend she has to keep reminding herself.

 

But Clarke has been spending more and more time with herself and Raven. Lexa and Clarke haven’t actually spent time alone with one another since the party. But there has been steely glances and attempts to get some alone time in. Four days ago while hanging out in the pool house with Raven, Clarke asked Lexa to help her get some soda’s. Lexa followed and they talked a little about how Lexa was feeling about her mom being gone. Lexa opened up a little and Clarke reached for her hand, before Raven ended up interrupting them. Something Raven later apologized for profusely. But it is all coming to an end soon. Marcus has found a group home to place Lexa in while a private investigator that Abby hired tries to find her mother. Something she is still unsure that she wants. Tonight is her last night in the Griffin home. She is starting to feel the hollowness again, but she knows she needs to leave. This isn’t her family. 

 

Marcus watches the three girls from the grill as he flips burgers. He smiles when he sees Clarke flick water at Raven. It has been so long since the two of them have been like this. Carefree and actually wanting to be around one another. He sees Lexa with a big grin on her face as she floats on a floaty, watching Clarke and Raven flick water at one another. Lexa notices him and flashes him a smile and Marcus can’t help but feel the guilt in his gut. This girl has made a friendship that seemed to be severed forever come back to life. She has made Abby let loose a lot more than usual. She has made Marcus feel a little less alone in the community of riches. 

The burgers are done and he calls over to the girls letting them know to get out of the pool. He walks into the kitchen and just stares at the three girls once more from the window by the sink.

“I wish there was more that we could do.” Marcus says, more to himself.

“Marcus, you’re her lawyer not her guardian.” Abby exasperated from this conversation already says to him.

“I know, I know.” He shakes his head, trying to get back to reality. Abby joins him to watch the girls by the kitchen window. Abby lingers on watching Lexa and feels her own guilt hitting her in the gut.

“What kind of mother leaves their child?” Abby asks.

“The kind that weren’t suppose to have kids in the first place.” Marcus states.

“What happens if they don’t find her mother?” Abby asks worriedly.

“She’ll go into the system till she’s 18. I mean, they’ll try to place her, but at her age? It would be impossible.” Marcus states, tinged in sadness.

Abby purses her lips, her guilt building in her gut. It’s moved up though, now threatening her heart. She shuts it down though because she knows this is the right thing to do. There is still hope to find Lexa’s mother, and everyone should be with their family, regardless of circumstances, she tells herself.

 

The five of them sit around the table fixing up their burgers. Marcus decides to break the slightly awkward silence.

“So, the last supper…” Marcus jokes. It brings a slight smile to Lexa’s face as Raven smirks and Clarke just laughs lightly and shakes her head. Abby on the other hand just gives Marcus a slight glare. “Sorry, bad joke.” He puts his hands up in defense. Clarke breaks in.

“You know it’s too bad you’re leaving tomorrow, we never eat like this.” Clarke says to Lexa with a smirk.

“That’s not true, I cook all the time.” Abby states. Marcus scoffs while Raven starts laughing. 

“Oh honey, be honest with yourself. The kitchen is not your strong suit” Marcus laughs. Abby shakes her head with a small smile on her face.

“Let’s just eat.” Abby says grabbing her fork as more giggles come from both Clarke and Raven. 

“Hey, we’re not saying we want you to cook more…” Marcus begins

“Oh, hell no remember the meatloaf incident of 08’.” Clarke says seriously.

“That was brisket.” Abby tries to defend.

“Her point exactly.” Raven laughs. The girls plus Marcus are all in giggle fits now. Lexa even smiling and giggling at Abby. Abby can’t help but smile a little bigger. But feels the guilt creeping its way up once more.

 

After dinner Marcus gets his brief case out with forms for Lexa to sign as Clarke, Abby and Raven clean the dishes.

“So tomorrow i’ll drive you down to the group home. I used some of my contacts to get you into one with only three other kids. Which is good, because I know how those places can get…crowded.” Marcus says reassuringly.

“Thank you, really.” Lexa says. She reads the form over and is slightly confused about what it says. Marcus cuts into her thoughts to explain.

“This just says that you have no legal guardian and that means the state is responsible for you until you turn 18.” 

“So i’m now property 75034 of the U.S government. It’s like juvie all over again.” Lexa tries to joke.

Abby gives a look showcasing she’s clearly uncomfortable. Raven also looks surprised by what Lexa said. That’s when Clarke clinks a plate in the sink loudly to break the tension.

“I’m sorry if i’m going to state the obvious here,” Clarke begins, “but we have all this extra space, we have a pool house. Why can’t she just stay here?”

Abby turns to Clarke to give her a warning look and says, “I will not have this discussion again.”

Marcus turns to Lexa again to try and comfort her thoughts, “You know they do find homes for kids your age.” Clarke interrupts.

“Yes cause everyone wants a brand new teenager. This is bullshit and you know it Kane.” Clarke looks at Marcus with nothing but pleading eyes.

Lexa can feel way too much tension in the room now, this conversation is getting way out of hand because she tried her hand at a joke. Lexa interjects the slight bickering that has started between Abby and Clarke with Raven keeping her eyes down.

“Look it’s fine,” Lexa raises her voice. She signs her name on the line of the paper and gives the pen back to Marcus. “Thank you for dinner, i’m just going to go to bed now.” Lexa states, she gives Clarke a look and walks out to the pool house. The hollowness has began to become slightly unbearable.

Clarke looks at Marcus and then her mother then huffs and leaves the room to go to her bedroom. Abby looks at Marcus with contempt and just throws her hands up in the air following after Clarke but Raven intercepts it.

“I got this Mama G.” Raven says with weary smile as she places a hand on Abby’s shoulder to stop her.

 

Lexa has been laying in bed for probably an hour. Tossing and turning. Her thoughts going to the group home she will be at tomorrow. She knew some kids at her school that lived in group homes. They told horror stories of things that sometimes happened in them. Being touched inappropriately or beaten. Sometimes the emotional abuse. It’s not something she hasn’t experienced while living with her mother, but she was starting to believe that those days were finally behind her. She trusts Marcus wouldn’t put her somewhere she wouldn’t be safe, but as she sits here and her thoughts keep going to the horror stories. She can’t help but feel weary.

She decides to make a decision. She could just leave and do odd jobs to make some money. She’s slept on the streets before with her mother and Anya. It wouldn’t be any different. It’s something she has experience with, a group home is something she doesn’t have experience with.

Lexa has made up her mind. She’ll leave now while everyone thinks she has gone to bed. She has her bike, she can go pretty far with that before anyone realizes she’s gone.

Lexa gets up and throws on grey pants, a black t-shirt and a red and black flannel. She puts her shoes on and begins packing up her backpack. She decides to make the bed as a nice gesture. She thinks for a second about writing Marcus a note, but decides against it. She throws her backpack over her shoulder hesitating at the door of the pool house. She closes her eyes and for some reason, a flash of cerulean blue eyes come to her. She takes a deep breath. Those blue eyes are not for you, she says to herself. She opens the door and begins to walk before running right into Raven.

“Oh hey, I was gonna make you come up to Clarke’s room with me so we all can…” She furrows her brow and looks at Lexa’s backpack on her back, “are you running away?!”

“Go back inside Raven.” Lexa sternly states as she begins to walk towards the driveway. Raven grabs her arm and stops her.

“You can’t just runaway.” Raven whispers while checking over her shoulder.

“Why not? So they can send me to a group home, with a bunch of other kids, or go back to my drunken mother again?”

“Okay, but let me come with you. I’ve always wanted to do that Jack Kerouac thing, Pancake tour of America, stop at every diner.” Raven looks at Lexa like she has crazy in her eyes. Lexa looks at her up and down.

“No.” Lexa states.

“Okay fair enough, but where are you gonna go?” Raven asks.

“I don’t know, all I know is i’m not going to that group home. Why? Do you have a better idea.”

It’s at this point the two didn’t realize a certain blue eyed blonde hair girl was listening to their entire conversation, “I do.” Clarke startles them with a smirk on her face as she stares intensely at Lexa, giving her a chill down her spine.

//

 

Clarke is in her room hurriedly trying to stuff some things in a duffle bag. Raven had gone back to her house to get her mom’s Mercedes Benz SUV to put Lexa’s bike in and drive them to the safe haven that Clarke knew of. As she shoves a flashlight into the bag she hears a knock on her bedroom door. She begins panicking and throws her duffle bag over the side of the bed, climbing into bed and throwing her covers over her head.

“Clarke?” She hears Kane’s muffled voice. She hears her door open and the light pours in. He repeats her name once more. Clarke rolls her eyes and decides this will go quicker if she just responds. 

“Kane?” She acts groggy as if she just woke up.

“Oh…were you asleep?” Kane asks with a furrowed brow.

“Uh…yeah I was.” Kane takes an uninvited seat on the side of Clarke’s bed and sighs while rubbing his fingers between his eyes.

“I wanted to talk to you about Lexa,” Clarke’s ears perk up for some reason and she realizes how stupid she probably just looked at just the mention of Lexa’s name, she shakes her head.

“We don’t need to talk about it.”

“Yeah I think we do, things got pretty heated and…” Clarke cuts him off.

“It’s fine, Kane, this is someones life we’re talking about and we should leave it in the hands of the authorities.” Clarke states matter of factly. Kane furrows his brow at her and Clarke feels caught.

“There’s no need to be sarcastic.” Kane says.

“I’m not being sarcastic.” Clarke breathes out, realizing their secret was not exposed.

“Oh well, it’s hard to tell sometimes, especially between you and Raven…” Marcus begins to trail off and Clarke realizes maybe this would have been better if she just had pretended to be asleep. She decides to try and end the conversation.

“Kane, it’s okay. I get it.” She raises her eyebrows and does her best puppy dog look.

“Okay. I know you guys have gotten close, this doesn’t mean you can’t ever see her. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’ll let you get some sleep.” Kane rises and heads towards her door but stops before turning around, “I thought you had some birthday party for Octavia Blake to go to?”

Now Clarke feels really caught. In the drama of this all she had totally spaced off Octavia’s birthday party at Nate’s beach house. Well, technically not her real birthday party, her half birthday party. Something she has thrown every year since Freshman year. When it was six months away from her actual birthday she claims it’s her half birthday and a celebration is needed. Clarke has found it’s more of an excuse to get presents and get wasted.

“Oh yeah, I totally spaced. I guess i’ll get dressed and go.” She says. Kane just kind of sits there in the doorway lost in thought before Clarke clears her throat and he realizes he has yet to cross the threshold from her door frame to the hallway. When her door shuts she rolls off the bed and grabs her duffle bag that spilled over and began putting the contents back in.

 

Raven and Lexa wait anxiously in the car. Lexa can’t stop tapping the arm rest which is starting to bug Raven.

“If I wanted a personal percussionist, I would have asked,” She stares at Lexa.

“Sorry, I just wish Clarke would hurry up. What if she got caught?” Lexa asks.

“She’s fine. She’ll be stealth…so you guys are pretty into each other huh?” Raven questions with a cocked eyebrow and a smirk Lexa wishes she could smack off her face.

“What? No…no…we’re friends. At least I think we are. I consider her a friend.” Lexa attempts to avoid Raven’s gaze by looking out the passenger window. She knows that her cheeks are pink and that Raven will pick up on it and start in on her. 

“Well, I know Clarke likes you as more than a friend.” Raven states in a sing-song voice. This causes Lexa to whip her head around to look at Raven to see if she’s serious.

“How do you know that?”

“She might have mentioned it. Or I brought it up and she didn’t deny it.” Raven shrugs her shoulders. Lexa shakes her head. She will not believe Clarke has a crush on her unless she actually says it with her own mouth. A girl like Clarke, the unattainable, would not be interested in the low class like Lexa. Besides, as Lexa has to remind herself anytime she is in close proximity of Clarke, she has a boyfriend.

At this point their conversation is done when the girl in questions opens up the passenger door behind the drivers seat and climbs in. Raven gives Lexa a look and Lexa gives Raven a look.

“What?” Clarke asks, looking down at herself to see if she has anything on her, before looking between both Lexa and Raven. Lingering on Lexa a little longer.

“Nothing.” They both say in unison. Raven starts the car but keeps the lights off as she back out of her driveway. Lexa glances over her shoulder at Clarke and Clarke catches her eyes. She gives Lexa a small smile and Lexa feels her heartbeat speed up.

 

“You know, this place is pretty far. Where exactly are you taking us? To the woods where you sacrifice the less fortunate so you can keep your popularity?” Raven asks, in an almost completely serious tone.

“No. It’s Thursday, I only do that on Tuesdays.” Clarke counters.

“Touche.” 

“Oh turn this song up, I love this!” Clarke exclaims. Lexa isn’t sure what song it is but Raven obliges and begins nodding her head and lip syncing to the song.

“This is good, who is it?” Lexa yells over the music. Raven turns it down a hair so they can hear each other.

“Band of Horses. What kind of music do you listen to?” Clarke asks. She’s moved to the middle seat in the back and is leaning forward with both of her arms hanging on the driver seat and Lexa’s seat. She starts to absentmindedly play with the collar of Lexa’s flannel. Lexa notices and swallows hard.

“Uh, everything…I guess. I don’t know. I don’t really listen to music.” She says. Raven looks over with a furrowed brow at Lexa and a judging look on her face.

“Dude, that’s kind of weird.” Raven returns her gaze back on the road.

“Oh turn right here!” Clarke yells out.

“Right?” Raven asks

“No left!” Clarke yells before Raven starts to get into the right lane.

“Well next time say ‘turn left here’ princess!” Raven yells back. Clarke just rolls her eyes making Lexa chuckle at the exchange.

They pull down a slightly beaten path. It’s an empty dirt road and Lexa is slightly wondering if what Raven said before about getting sacrificed is true. Before long there’s a half constructed mansion in front of them. It’s completely dark besides the lights of the SUV and Clarke begins to get out the flashlight she packed. Raven parks the car and Clarke and Raven hop out. Lexa grabs her backpack from the floorboard and mutters to herself welcome home and makes her way out of the car.

The three of them approach the house and Clarke swings open the doors. She shines her flashlight around showing the incomplete house. It has the high ceilings like the Griffin’s but is definitely bigger. 

“I’m moving up in the world!” Lexa jokes. Clarke looks over and smiles a bright smile at Lexa and chuckles, which causes Lexa to smile even more than she already was. 

“What is this place?” Raven asks, Clarke breaks her gaze with Lexa.

“Well it’s supposed to be Jaha’s Model Home for his developments. But something happened and it’s been unfinished for awhile.”

“Why? Did someone die in here and now it’s haunted?” Lexa jokes. Clarke rolls her eyes.

“From what I heard from my mom, the contractors just up and left one day. Probably something to do with money if I had to take a stab in the dark.” Clarke explains.

“Is he still trying to get in your mom’s pants?” Raven questions. Clarke scoffs and chuckles a little.

“Does he still flirt with her in front of Kane? Absolutely.” Clarke says as they begin walking around what appears to be a living room. Raven laughs and the three of them begin exploring the place. Lexa opens up the backdoor to reveal an empty pool. Lexa jumps into where the hot tub would be and sits on the ledge. Clarke walks out and sits right by her. 

“You think you can tough it out here until we come up with a plan?” Clarke asks. She’s staring intently at the side of Lexa’s face. Lexa turns to meet her eyes. She gives her the hint of a smile.

“Beats a group home.” She says. Clarke breaks her gaze with Lexa and looks at the ground.

“I wish my mom would realize, you’re not a threat. I thought this past week she was getting over whatever fear she was having. But I guess not.” Clarke’s voice is filled with sadness.

“Don’t blame your mom, Clarke. She doesn’t owe me anything. Your entire family doesn’t. If anything, I owe you guys.” Lexa explains. Clarke looks back up at Lexa and they stare for awhile. Lexa accidentally moves her eyes to Clarke’s pink lips and slowly moves her eyes back to Clarke’s eyes.

“This place is the shit!” Raven yells out, startling Clarke and Lexa out of whatever trance they were in. She makes her way outside and sits in-between them and they both turn away from embarrassment.

“Oh, did I interrupt more eye-fucking time?” Raven asks. Lexa smacks Raven’s arm and she yelps which causes Clarke to laugh and shake her head absentmindedly.

“Anyways, for some reason i’m craving an In’n’Out milkshake and some fries to dip it in. You guys want any?” Raven asks. Lexa nods her head and Clarke does as well. Raven stands up and heads to go back inside. Lexa stands up but Raven turns back around.

“No you guys stay here and hold the fort down. I’ll be back soon.” Raven says. Lexa notices Raven flash a wink at Clarke as she glares at her then turns around and skips her way to the front door.

“What was that about?” Lexa asks with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.

“Nothing. Just Raven being Raven.” She shakes her head. There’s a beat of silence after hearing Raven’s SUV start up and drive away from the house. Lexa decides to ask Clarke a question that has been plaguing her mind since she met Raven.

“You know, Raven said something about how you guys all use to be friends, and then one day you just dropped her. What was that about?” She asks, seriously.

“Honestly…I was jealous.” Clarke states.

“Why were you jealous?” Lexa is even more intrigued. What would Clarke have to be jealous about? Yes, Raven is incredibly smart and very beautiful. But what she has learned about Clarke this past week is that Clarke is probably just as smart, witty, and to Lexa, even more beautiful. Clarke takes a deep breath like she’s about to tell her something huge.

“When we were around 14. Freshman year, Raven’s mom got some job for a business doing god knows what and had to leave Raven for 10 months out of the year. She asked my mom and Kane to look after Raven and they were happy to. I thought it was going to be fun. Raven was one of my close friends and it would be like having a sister. But as time went on, my mom was paying more attention to Raven. Kane and Raven were able to have this banter and all that that I have never really had with him. It was like she was becoming the favorite daughter,” Clarke pauses, and laughs a little. “I was petty. I know that now. I knew it like a week after I did it, but at the time, I was so caught up in the social structure of High School that I didn’t care.”

“Did what?” Lexa asks with a furrowed brow. She hopes Clarke didn’t start a rumor or something that petty.

Clarke takes another deep breath and begins, “My group of friends are a bunch of followers. They look to me for everything. No individuality whatsoever. All I did was tell them to stop talking to Raven and to stop hanging out with her and they did. It was crazy. After a week of it though, I felt incredibly guilty. But I never corrected it. It’s something I regret enormously. I want you to know that you helped us. I’ve talked to Raven about it and she forgave me. I know it shouldn’t have taken a gorgeous mysterious girl to come here for it to have happened. But I guess that’s how it happened.” Clarke finishes. She looks up from the spot she was starting at to Lexa’s eyes.

“I guess so, glad I helped.” Lexa gives her a crooked smile. Clarke smiles back.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Clarke asks. Lexa swallows, wondering what in the hell Clarke would want to ask her.

“Yeah, I guess. It’s only fair.” Lexa shrugs.

“Do you miss your sister?” Clarke’s eyes have nothing but concerned in them. Lexa takes a deep breath. 

“How do you do that?” Lexa asks, Clarke is taken aback by the question.

“Do what?”

“Make me want to tell the truth to you.” Lexa confesses. Clarke begins searching Lexa’s eyes. Clarke scoots a little closer to Lexa, their thighs now touching. Lexa takes a deep breath. Now it’s her turn to tell a story.

“When I was…” Her voice cracks. Clarke grabs Lexa’s hand and begins playing with it. Lexa feels the warmth radiate within her and she feels the courage to continue. “ When I was younger, my mom use to drink very heavily and would take out her frustrations on my dad getting sent to prison on me and Anya. Anya used to protect me from it. Take the hits for me. One day Anya fought back and her and my mom got into a screaming match. Anya left the house. I remember waiting up all night, alone in my bedroom. Wondering where she was. And if she was okay. I was so scared she wasn’t going to come back. That this was how I was going to feel from now on. Alone… she came home the next morning and just laid in bed with me for the whole day…it use to be her and I against the world. Now i’m back to that point. Alone in the world…wondering where she went…” Lexa hadn’t realize she had silent tears trailing down her cheeks. Clarke takes her free hand and wipes one of her tears away.

“Hey, you’re not alone this time.” Clarke states as she continues playing with Lexa’s hand. Lexa contemplates Clarke’s words. She looks up from where she was watching Clarke play with her hand and meets Clarke’s blue eyes. They have nothing but sincerity in them.

Lexa wants nothing more than to just lean in and kiss Clarke. But she knows it’s not right. What they are doing right now isn’t right. She pulls her hand away from Clarke’s playful fingers. She knows it’s too dangerous to let Clarke continue to keep playing with her hand when she is already this vulnerable. Clarke gives her a slight look of embarrassment after she pulls her hands away.

The sit in silence for awhile, glancing over every now and then before Lexa decides to break it.

“So Finn, what’s the story there?” Lexa asks. Clarke begins to shift nervously.

“I don’t know. It’s a complicated situation.” Clarke says. Lexa looks at her with a furrowed brow. There seems to be more to this than she anticipated.

“Well, if you like him and you’re with him, that shouldn’t be a complicated situation.” Lexa states.

“He’s one of my best friends. It has less to do with how we both present ourselves in public. More about what is happening behind the scenes.” Clarke already feels like she has said too much.

“Behind the scenes? Like the fact he hooks up with other women?” Lexa didn’t mean for that to slip and she instantly curses herself when she does. Clarke surprises her with her answer.

“At least you actually said it. I’ve always known about it. It’s a front for him…” Clarke shifts nervously again.

Lexa ponders what she is saying. Why would this girl want to stay with someone who treats her like that? What does she mean it’s a front? She decides to just drop it. Clarke is smart and obviously knows more about this situation and doesn’t want to continue the conversation judging by how she is shifting uncomfortably. At this point Raven barges through the front door.

“I forgot I didn’t ask what kind of milkshakes you guys like so I just got all Neapolitan…you two look cosy.” Raven smirks as she sits in the empty hot tub across from them.

“Shut up, Raven.” Lexa says. Raven puts her hands up in defense.

“Okay okay, geez. Here have a shake and some fries.” She hands them each their milkshake and fries. 

“So what did I miss?” Raven asks.

The two glance between one another and both shrug.

 

The three girls decide to go upstairs and find a room where Lexa can set up shop.

“So I figured this could be your room.” Clarke says, twirling around in the middle of the room. Her cell phone rings and she sees it’s Octavia. She answers.

“Hey, O, What’s up?” She asks nonchalantly.

“Uh, hello! It’s my half birthday! Where are you?” Octavia slurs.

“I’m coming, don’t worry.” At this point, Raven has noticed she is talking to Octavia and is trying to get Clarke’s attention. She covers the phone and asks what Raven wants.

“Is that Octavia?” She asks a little too excitedly. Clarke nods.

“Tell her I said happy birthday.” Raven smiles. Clarke just nods and says okay. She hears Octavia yelling at her on the other end.

“Clarkey! Hurry up!” 

“Uh, Raven Reyes says Happy Birthday.” Clarke says nervously.

“Who?” Octavia says. Ouch Clarke thinks. She furrows her brow with a slight smile on her face and says, “she said Thanks,” to a very excited Raven who high fives Lexa.

After reassuring Octavia she is coming she hangs up.

“I have to go meet my friends…” Clarke realizes how that sounds and backtracks, “my other friends.”

“Yeah I should probably get back to my house, or i’ll blow our cover. We’ll come back here tomorrow with more supplies, you game with that Clarke?” Raven asks.

Clarke stares at Lexa and gives her a big smile, “I’m game!” Lexa sheepishly nods her head.

“Alright cool.” 

Clarke begins to walk out before Raven stops her.

“We should make a pact. Not to tell anyone about this place.” Raven states.

Clarke smiles and simply says, “I can keep a secret.” She glances at Lexa with reassuring eyes.

“Alright, cool. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Lexa says, flashing a sly grin back at Clarke.

The two girls head out and Lexa is left with her backpack and a flashlight. She curls up to go to sleep, anticipating tomorrows events.

//

 

Marcus heads towards the pool house the next morning, ready for an emotional day he is sure to have. When he arrives he realizes the bed is made and there is no backpack sitting in the corner like there has been for the past week. He looks around and wonders if Lexa is in the bathroom getting ready.

“Lexa, you ready to go?” He calls out. When he steps towards the bar to the door of the bathroom, it’s wide open and no one is inside.

He looks around dumbfounded until it dawns on him. She fled.

 

Clarke tries texting Raven to tell her not to come over. After Kane realized Lexa was gone her mom went into a panic and called the police to file her as a runaway. The cops have been questioning them in their driveway for a few minutes. That’s when Raven starts walking up the driveway, sees the cop, and starts to try and turn around before Kane calls out to her.

“Hey Raven, come up here. Lexa ran away.” Clarke can see the panic she shoots at her and Clarke tries to telepathically tell her to remember the pact.

“Marcus says you guys were close, did she mention anything about where she went?” The officer asks Raven.

“Well she did mention something about wanting to go to Mexico to bet on cock fights.” Raven sarcastically says, making Clarke try to stifle a laughter.

“There’s no need for sarcasm.” Marcus gives Raven a glare.

“I’m sorry but we really don’t know, we don’t really know her. We never got the chance.” Raven says glancing at Clarke who just nods her head along with Raven’s statements. Clarke glances over at her mother and she is the poster child of guilt and part of her is happy about that. The other part feels bad that it’s taking Lexa being a runaway for her mother to realize the gravity of Lexa’s situation.

 

After the police officer leaves, Raven and Clarke make an excuse that they are going to the movies for the day. Kane and her mother don’t question it, more excited about the fact that Raven and Clarke are hanging out again.

After grabbing camping supplies and lots of other useless crap for fun, they head out to the model home.

They arrive and Lexa is already up moving about the house. They begin bringing in a tent, some sleeping bags, candles, a little camping stove. Raven, for some reason, brought a little mini-golf set and instead of helping Clarke and Lexa set up the room, is hitting golf balls.

She hits a golf ball out of the room and goes to find it and Clarke seizes this opportunity. She pulls an old iPod and small speaker from her bag and goes over to where Lexa is setting up a sleeping bag inside of the tent. She leans in the opening of the tent.

“Hey, I made a playlist of songs on my old iPod for you to listen to.” Clarke smiles as she hands her the iPod. Lexa glances at it and looks back at Clarke with a smile.

“Thanks.” Lexa looks at it a little longer. This is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever given her. She’s slightly at a loss of words. Clarke breaks through her thoughts though.

“Let your music education begin.” She hands her a tiny speaker and Lexa begins stuffing it into the sleeping bag when she notices Raven coming back in. She doesn’t need Raven’s blatant teasing and i’m sure Clarke doesn’t want it either.

“This place is looking pretty homey now!” Raven exclaims, oblivious to what just transpired between Clarke and Lexa.

“Did anyone bring any food?” Lexa asks. Clarke looks at Raven and Raven shrugs.

“Well, I guess we’re going on a mission!” Clarke exclaims with a smile.

 

The three girls head to the pier on the ocean. There’s a small diner there and they all agreed they are craving pancakes. They sit in a booth near the kitchen in the back. After receiving their food they all chow down and Lexa thinks now is the time to talk about the plan she came up with the night before.

“So I was thinking. My mom used to date this guy who was super nice. He works in construction and use to let me help him out at sites. When they broke up, he decided to move back to New Orleans and told me if I was ever in that area, I had a place to stay.” Lexa stops and decides to gauge their reactions. Both seem a little taken aback.

Clarke looks down with a furrowed brow and what looks to be a very hurt face, “Louisiana? That’s…really far.” She almost whispers. Raven is a little louder.

“Yeah, we were thinking more like Long Beach so we can all still see each other.” Raven glances at Clarke who nods her head along. Lexa can tell they are slightly hurt but she knows she has no future in this town. As much as she would love one, there’s just no way. Especially at the fact that she ran away. She decides to dismiss their hurt expressions to get this plan in motion. She has decided. She will go to New Orleans.

“I just need to find some work for a few days to get enough money to buy a bus ticket.” 

“Well, we can get you money…” Clarke says and instantly regrets it. Lexa finds it stings a little to be having Clarke wanting to take pity on her. To give the poor kid money, just like her fund raising event. She takes a deep breath and shifts in her seat uncomfortably. Just as the mood becomes slightly awkward the door to the front of the diner swings open and Finn and Nate walk in and sit near the front, not noticing them.

Raven glances over her shoulder to see them and looks back at Clarke who is staring at the two boys nervously. Lexa follows Clarke’s eyes and sees something she probably shouldn’t. Her conversation the night before with Clarke now ringing in her head. It’s a front, she had said. It was confusing to Lexa before but now, it’s clear. She sees Finn’s hand on top of Nate’s. His thumb looking like it’s stroking his hand. They have nothing but love in each other’s eyes. Lexa tears her eyes away and looks at Clarke who has nothing but panic in her eyes. Raven hasn’t seemed to notice so Lexa speaks for Clarke.

“We should probably go, head out the back. Clarke go distract them.” Lexa reaches over and gives Clarke a reassuring squeeze and that seems to soften Clarke’s panic and she gets up and runs over to Finn and Nate, placing a kiss on Finn’s cheek, who now seems startled. Lexa and Raven get out of the booth and start to go down the hallway to the back door before one of the employee’s stops them.

“Hey! Front door!” She calls. Raven stops and looks at the employee.

“Yeah…thanks.” Raven throws her hands up. Lexa puts her hood from the light jacket she is wearing on so as not to draw attention to herself. The two girls walk past the booth where Finn, Nate, and now Clarke occupy as Clarke tries to distract the two boys. Then Raven runs into a waitress who drops her tray. Now all eyes are on Raven as Lexa just continues walking out of the diner.

“Oh…uh….hey. You guys eat here too, nice.” Raven stammers out. Finn has a defensive look on his face and Nate looks a little panicked.

“Shut up, Reyes, what did you see?!” Finn yells defensively. Raven is confused and looks to Clarke for an answer.

“It’s fine Finn, she didn’t see anything.” Clarke tries to calm Finn but he stands up from the booth to go towards Raven. By then, Lexa has come back into the diner and steps in front of Finn.

“Hey!” Lexa yells out. Finn chuckles and his face softens.

“Of course, I should have known you were here. You’re a little far from your trailer park, you know?” Finn smirks.

“Finn, shut up!” Clarke yells out. Finn turns towards Clarke.

“Oh i’m sorry, did I offend you? Last I checked, you are MY girlfriend.” Finn says, Clarke just ducks her head down and glances over at Nate. This tickles Lexa greatly. But she knows bringing up the fact that Finn, clearly, isn’t interested in Clarke would be low, even for her. So she goes to the thing that bothers her the most about this place called Newport.

She laughs a little, “you know what I like about rich kids?” Lexa questions, right as Finn turns back around to face her, she punches him in the face. Knocking him back over his table where Clarke and Nate try to back away, “nothing.” Lexa says as she grabs Raven’s arm to run out of the diner when she sees Nate and Finn get up to come running after them.

“That was awesome!” Raven yells excitedly as they run down the pier. Luckily, the model home isn’t far and Clarke has the keys to the car so they keep sprinting, even after they know Finn and Nate are no longer chasing after them.

//

 

Marcus gets a call from a police officer, letting him know that there was a fight down by the pier with someone that matches Lexa’s description. After he hangs up, Abby is right behind him.

“Who was that?” Abby asks.

“I guess there was a fight down by the pier with someone who matches Lexa’s description. I’m gonna go down there and see if I can find her.”

“Marcus, there are officers who are trained to find kids. This isn’t your job.” Abby pleads.

“They don’t care what happens to her! The only reason they called me is because they owe me a favor. If I don’t get to her first, she’ll just slip through the cracks.” Abby takes a deep breath. She doesn’t understand why Marcus is so hung up on Lexa.

“You get these cases all the time, troubled kids from broken homes. What is so special about this one?” Abby finally asks. Marcus takes a beat. He then moves towards Abby to hold her hand.

“I was this kid. If no one had helped me…well, I wouldn’t be here.” Marcus gives Abby a small smile. Abby gives him a knowing smile as well. She understands. She does. 

“Well, I have a surgery scheduled in a couple hours. I can go down with you, if you want.” Abby asks. Marcus begins to answer but Abby’s phone starts to ring. She sees the name and decides for Marcus.

“Actually, it’s work. Head down there and give me updates.” Marcus gives Abby a kiss on the cheek and heads out the door. Abby hesitates before answering her phone.

//

 

Raven and Lexa are lounging in the now made up room. They are listening to Clarke’s playlist on the small speaker. Lexa will admit, Clarke has a good ear for music. They’re listening to a song called To Be Alone when Clarke barges into the room, slightly pissed.

“You know you didn’t have to hit him! The cashier called the cops!” Clarke yells at Lexa. Lexa shifts up from one of the folding chairs they brought.

“Sorry.” Is all she can get out. Raven steps in.

“Aw c’mon Clarke. He was being an ass. Even you can admit that was pretty badass.’You know what I like about rich kids’ BAM ‘nothing’. Hey Lexa, would you consider me rich? Or like, upper middle class?” Raven asks as she putts another golf ball across the floor. Raven’s rambling has seem to get Clarke out of an angry mood because she’s now lightly laughing shaking her head. Lexa looks over at Clarke and gives her a smile and shrug. That’s when they hear two cars pull up to the model home. Lexa gets up and shuts off the speaker. Raven goes to the window to look outside.

“Did you drive back here?” Raven whispers.

“No I jogged here. I knew Finn would probably follow me. Who’s out there?”

“It’s…Jaha and…your mom?” Raven furrows her brow. a few beats later and the front door of the model home opens. The three girls go towards the hallway to look downstairs at Abby and Jaha who are walking around the place. Clarke is practically on top of Lexa trying to get a peak.

“Wow, this place looks pretty good. It kind of looks like…” Abby starts.

“Your parents place. I always loved the high ceilings and open floor plan. We had some good times there.” Jaha says.

“Yeah, we did.” Abby smiles.

“I had my first kiss there.”

“Me too.” Abby states. Clarke furrows her brow towards Raven who is also giving her the same look. Then they hear Abby speak again.

“Why did you ask me to meet here?” Abby asks. Jaha lets out a sigh.

“I’m in trouble. I made some bad investments. And with Wells at boarding school, it’s going to take a big boom in the real estate business for me to get back on track…”

“How much do you need?” Abby interrupts.

“No no…it’s too much.”

“How much?” Abby asks again. Jaha sighs again.

“It’s a hundred-thousand dollars.” Jaha confesses. Clarke looks at Lexa then at Raven with wide eyes.

“I’ll have the money in your account by tomorrow.” Abby states. Clarke looks completely confused by what is happening.

“I’ll pay you back. I promise.” Jaha says.

“I know.” There’s a moment of silence. Probably not awkward for Abby and Jaha but definitely for Clarke, Raven and Lexa who are eavesdropping on a very private conversation.

“Well, I know it’ll be sooner rather than later. Tomorrow new contractors are coming out here to finish the job. A new model home is bound to get things back on track.” Jaha states.

“I’m sure it will.” Abby glances at her watch and realizes the time. “I’m sorry but I need to head out. I have a quick surgery I need to get to.”

“Yeah, I have a meeting. Thank you Abby.” Jaha says. The girls hear their footsteps walking towards the front door, they hear the door close. Some muffled chatter outside then two cars pull away.

“That was…weird. Why would your mom give him that much money?” Raven questions, looking at Clarke.

“I have no idea.” Clarke is staring blankly at the ground. Clearly lost in thought. She shakes her head and looks at Lexa, who is still inches away from her face. She steps back a little, realizing they don’t need to be in close proximity anymore. Lexa may or may not miss the contact.

“He said new contractors were coming tomorrow.” Clarke says, staring sadly at Lexa. Lexa swallows.

“I guess that means i’m gone.” Lexa states, still staring at Clarke. She feels the hollowness return.

 

//

 

Raven is back at her house. Clarke and her left Lexa at the model home. Clarke had to go to Nate’s beach house to clear something up with Finn. The two decided they would meet Lexa in the morning and take her to the Greyhound station. Raven is now staring at her computer, on the last check out page for a one-way ticket to New Orleans. She hesitates. She has never met anyone like Lexa before. Never had a friend like her. Yes, her and Clarke have gotten close again but before Lexa came along, she was essentially alone. Lexa brought her out of her shell again. She doesn’t know that she’s ready to lose that. She feels like everyone she gets close with leaves. Her mother, Clarke and the rest of the gang, and now Lexa. She now realizes what Lexa must have been feeling when her mom abandoned her. She recognizes the need to runaway. She presses purchase and begins printing out the ticket when she hears a knock on her bedroom door.

“Uh, yeah come in.” Marcus enters and Raven quickly shuts off her monitor.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Marcus asks as he enters her bedroom.

“Um, just busy.”

“You’re always busy these days.” Marcus smirks.

“Yeah, well…” Raven says, losing her train of thought. There’s a beat of silence before Marcus speaks up again.

“They found Lexa.” Raven feels a tightening in her stomach. Oh god. Marcus is here to yell at her. Clarke is probably already grounded and Lexa is…gone probably. She swallows.

“They did?” She barely chokes out.

“Well, someone who meets her description. Apparently there was a fight down by the pier.” Marcus says. Raven relaxes a lot more now.

“I was wondering if you wanted to drive around and look for her.” Marcus asks.

“Uh, i’m pretty busy and…” Raven stumbles to find an excuse. She knows being in a car with Marcus, who has a habit of always getting the truth out of her, even if he isn’t aiming for that, is not a good idea right now.

“C’mon Raven. We got to get to her before the cops do. She’s your friend.” Marcus raises his eyebrows. Raven swallows and sighs. She knows for a fact that if she doesn’t agree to this, he will know something is up.

“Okay.”

//

 

Clarke walks into the beach house. Music is playing loudly, but it’s definitely not the scene it was at the after party when Lexa and Raven were here. Only a small group of them now. Octavia is drinking tequila shots with Harper. Monty and Jasper are playing solitaire while smoking joints. Monroe is looking at Clarke walking in and taps Finn on the shoulder to alert him. He turns around from talking to Nate and walks over to Clarke. Clarke swallows because she knows what’s coming.

“Hey, can we talk in private?” Finn asks.

“Yeah.” Clarke says. Finn takes her by the hand and starts to lead her upstairs. She hear whoops and hollers from Octavia and Harper, she just shakes her head and rolls her eyes. Not in the mood tonight. They get to a bedroom and Clarke sits on the bed. Finn shuts the door and starts pacing the room.

“Did Raven see anything Clarke?” Finn asks.

“No. No one saw anything Finn. That’s why I went over to you guys. To make sure you guys didn’t go any further.” Clarke says.

Finn sighs and sits on the bed next to Clarke and puts his head in his hands. He starts shaking his head and then looks up at Clarke.

“What are you even doing with them? Especially that trailer park girl?” Finn asks with an accusatory tone.

“They’re my friends Finn.” She pauses,”Look, have you ever thought about just…coming out. Half of us in this group are either bisexual or gay. No one is going to care Finn. Then you’re free to be with Nate all you want. You love him. I know you do.” Clarke pleads. She searches his eyes.

“I can’t Clarke. You know this. My dad would kill me if he knew. You know my dad. He already has a hard time with thinking I’m dating you and you’re bisexual. He thinks i’m ‘fixing you’ whatever that means.” Finn sighs. This is a conversation they have both had so many times. Something is different now though. Before, Clarke would just go with it. But she is tired. She lets Finn hook up with Nate and even turns a blind eye when he tries to hook up with girls just in case someone saw him with Nate. But she doesn’t get anything out of this deal. She’s had crushes on people that she always wanted to act on but she has a reputation to uphold. People turn a blind eye to Finn cheating but if people thought Clarke was cheating? She would be ruined and she wouldn’t be able to explain the circumstances. She had made Finn a promise.

But now there’s Lexa. Lexa with the curly brunette hair. Lexa with the piercing green eyes that darken when she’s nervous. Lexa who has a habit of drumming on objects when she’s bored. Lexa who makes her laugh harder than anyone when she’s not trying. Lexa who has reconnected her to Raven. Lexa.

Clarke swallows and grabs Finn’s hand and makes him turn to look at her.

“You’re my best friend. I love you. I promise, I will keep your secret, but…I don’t want to do this anymore, Finn.” Clarke pleads. Finn looks surprised. 

“Clarke. I need you.” Finn starts.

“No you don’t Finn. You’re using me. I was fine with it before, but now…” Clarke trails off.

“It’s that trailer park girl.” Finn stares in front of him. He lets go of Clarke’s hand and stands up.  
“What kind of future do you even think you could have with her? No way in hell would your mom allow you to date her. She’s a criminal, Clarke. She doesn’t belong here. You and me. We have one more year left and then we’ll go to college and I can finally get away from my dad. Clarke we can do this…” Finn says.

Clarke starts to get upset. Finn doesn’t know anything about Lexa. He is being selfish.

“You’re talking about the future but you know what? You haven’t let me have a future, Finn. I’ve been stuck being your front since we were in 8th grade. You have someone you actually love. Someone who has been waiting for years for you and will continue waiting. I don’t. I have all of you around me, but I am alone. No, don’t give me that crap about only having a year. I’m done Finn. I don’t want this for me.” Clarke hadn’t realize she has had tears building up and that they were escaping.

“You may feel like you don’t have a future with me. But I know for a fact, you wouldn’t have a future with that low life.” Finn states. This angers Clarke. He just doesn’t get it. She stands up from the bed and goes to the door.

“You don’t know her! You don’t know anything about her.” She yells. She starts running down the stairs as Finn tries to follow her. Everyone downstairs hear them yelling and watch with wide eyes as Clarke leaves and slams the door.

//

 

Lexa starts lighting candles to brighten up the room. She took down the tent, not wanting to hold up leaving tomorrow. She grabs the speaker and places it near the ledge of the window. She grabs the iPod and searches for a song. She settles on Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah. She goes over to start rolling up the sleeping bag. That’s when she hears a light knock by the doorway. She sees Clarke. She’s wearing shorts and a baggy t-shirt. Her eyes look like stars in the low light.

“This song reminds me of you.” Clarke says. She starts to step into the room. Lexa’s confused, Clarke was supposed to be with Finn and they were suppose to say goodbye in the morning.

“I thought you were with Finn?” Lexa asks.

“I was…but I had to come see you. You’re leaving tomorrow…and,” Clarke starts to stutter. Lexa stands up from her crouched position and walks towards Clarke, “what if we never…maybe I can spend the night? Just talk.” Clarke asks. She has nothing but hope in her eyes. Lexa feels her stomach starts to flip. She wants desperately to spend one more night with Clarke. To talk about absolutely nothing but everything at the same time. Every time they had nights together, Raven was with them. But now, they are alone. Lexa knows what her heart is telling her, but she also knows that this is a dangerous situation. Things could happen. It would make it that much harder for her to leave than it already is.

“No, you can’t stay.” Lexa swallows.

“Why not?” Clarke asks, stepping toward Lexa to where they are nearly inches apart.

“Because if you stay…we spend the night together…I don’t know if I would be able to leave.” Lexa whispers to her. Clarke searches Lexa’s eyes and put her hand on Lexa’s cheek. She starts caressing the apple of her cheek bone.

“Then don’t.” Clarke whispers back. Clarke starts to lean forward and Lexa is about to let herself sink into Clarke’s lips but she pulls away. She knows she has to do this. She needs to bring them both back down to reality.

“What’s your plan? You start school in a month and then what, Clarke? I just hang around here? Waiting in the shadows like some ghost, until the cops catch me. Send me to foster care? It’s not realistic.” Lexa states coldly. She doesn’t want to do this, but she has to. For both of their sakes.

“We’re from different worlds, Clarke.” Lexa says. She sees the tears building in Clarke’s eyes and she tries to will herself to look away but she can’t.

“That’s not true.” Clarke says quietly. She tries to take another step forward to reach out to Lexa. And Lexa knows what she’s about to do will hurt. But she must.

“Go away, Clarke. Just..leave. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to be with you.” She pauses. “I just want you to go.” Her voice cracks. To Lexa, it didn’t sound believable. But judging by the fact that Clarke’s tears are streaming down her face, she realizes she must be a better actress than she gives herself credit for. Clarke lets out a slight sob and turns and runs out the door.

Lexa instantly regrets what she just said. She tries to run after Clarke. She grabs her leather jacket and runs down the stairs out the model home. Clarke jumps in her car and pulls away. Lexa stands on the dirt road. Watching Clarke’s lights disappear. If she wasn’t so caught up in watching Clarke, she would have noticed Finn’s car parked on the side of the house, watching the entire scene unfold.

//

 

Lexa decides to distract her thoughts of Clarke by continuing packing up her things. She turns off the music and stuffs the iPod in her pocket. She knows what she did was the right thing in the long run, but it still is making her chest hurt. She hears the front door of the model home open and she figures it’s Raven with the bus ticket. Coming early, probably after hearing from Clarke of the events of the evening.

“Raven, did you get the bus ticket?” Lexa calls out.

“Bus ticket?” She recognizes the voice. It’s Finn. He stands in the doorway with Nate on one side and a girl on the other. She recognizes the girl as one of Clarke’s many friends, but can’t place her name.

“What do you want?” Lexa sighs, already exhausted from whatever is about to transpire.

“What are you doing here? What are you doing with MY girlfriend? Finn asks defensively.

“Nothing. I didn’t do anything…” Lexa knows it’s petty and wrong but she can’t help the next comment coming out of her mouth. Clearly, she has been hanging out with Raven way too long, “besides, i’m sure you wouldn’t mind even if something did since…” she points between Nate and Finn. This should anger Finn and Nate but it doesn’t show. He looks more surprised than anything. But the girl whose name Lexa can’t remember is pissed. She lunges forward knocking Lexa back into some paint that spills all over the floor near the candles that are still lit. The girl begins punching Lexa as Lexa gets ahold on her and pushes her off, tackling the girl to the floor and begins punching the girl back. After quite a few hits the girl blocks one of Lexa’s punches and takes Lexa to the ground again. In this process, she knocked over several candles which ignite the floor on fire, due to the paint being spilled. The workers sheets also catch fire and soon, half the room is ablaze. The girl knocks out Lexa with a hard punch and Finn pulls her off of Lexa while Nate is yelling.

“The place is on fire man, we gotta go!” Nate runs down the stairs with the girl trailing. Finn starts to leave too but sees that Lexa isn’t remotely moving. He runs back and grabs Lexa and throws her over his shoulders and runs down the stairs and out of the house. He drops Lexa off his back a little ways from the house. He takes a second look at her bloody face thats mixed with soot. He sees Lexa start to wake up and cough and decides this is his cue to get out of there. He runs and jumps into his car with Nate in the drivers seat. Lexa looks up and watches as the car pulls away fast. She’s coughing and exhausted and just lays her head in the dirt.

 

Abby is on the phone with her bank wiring a hundred-thousand dollars to Thelonius’s account. She knows she should have probably asked Marcus about it. But there is too much history when it comes to Thelonius and Marcus. She figures she just should wire the money, Thelonius pays her back, and Marcus never knows. Saves them from all the unnecessary drama.

She received an update from Marcus about Lexa. He’s with Raven now driving around the town looking for her. After her bank confirms that the wire will appear in his account in 24 hours, she hears the door opening. She’s expecting Marcus, but finds a very teary Clarke with her arms folded across her chest as she pays no mind to her mother and walks upstairs to her room. Abby hears her slam the door and she knows she should probably go deal with that.

 

Clarke lays in her bed, her face in the pillow as she cries. Her heart is aching. Every time she closes her eyes, all she sees is green emerald eyes staring back at her. She hears a knock on the door and her mothers voice.

“Clarke?” 

Clarke sits up, not even trying to hide how upset she is. Abby gives her a look of sympathy and sits on her bed.

“Come here.” Abby opens her arms and Clarke melts into them. She can’t help the sobs that escape her after that. She begins hiccuping with sobs as Abby rubs circles around her back.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. What happened? You can tell me.” Abby coos to Clarke like she is four years old again. “We tell each other everything.” Abby continues. This slightly angers Clarke. She had witnessed her mother agreeing to give Jaha A LOT of money. She wonders what other secrets her mother has.

“Do we?” Clarke questions as she sniffs. She pulls away from Abby who has a slightly confused look on her face. Abby is about to speak until her phone goes off. She answers without looking at the screen, but continues looking at Clarke.

“Hello? Oh Hi, I don’t know if right now is a good time…what?! Oh my god. I am so sorry. Marcus is out right now i’ll call him and tell him to go by the place. Yeah. Alright. Bye.” Abby has concern all over her face as she furrows her brow.

“What happened?” Clarke asks, her voice is still shaky from crying.

“Thelonius’s model home he was building caught on fire. It’s half way burnt to the ground.” Clarke’s heart drops into her stomach. All she can think is that Lexa was there. They were both there. Did she accidentally knock over a candle on her way out? Did Lexa purposely burn it down? Is Lexa okay? Was she in the fire? Was that the last conversation they will ever have?

 

Marcus and Raven have been driving around for three hours now. Raven has avoided eye contact and conversation with Marcus over fear that she will spill the truth. Marcus breaks through the silence that has built up.

“I just don’t understand why she didn’t just come to me, instead of running away.” Marcus says, mostly to himself. Raven hears this and decides to take this opportunity to defend Lexa. Lexa has spent all this time defending her, now it’s her turn.

“Why would she? She was either going to end up in a group home or her drunken mother who abandoned her. If those were my options…I would run away too.” Raven states sternly while looking straight ahead.

“Promise me you’ll never do that. No matter how bad things get. Promise me, you will talk to me first.” Marcus says.

“Okay, take it down a notch.” Raven jokes.

“I’m serious. The day you and Clarke came into my life, I knew I would never breath easy again until I knew that you both were safe.”

“So…we’re like asthma.” Raven deadpans.

“All i’m saying is, if you run away, i’m coming with you.” Marcus deadpans back. Raven smiles and that’s when Marcus’s phone starts ringing. She tries eavesdropping on the conversation.

“Hey babe. Yeah, we’re near there, why? What?! Yeah…yeah we will check it out.” Marcus hangs up without saying goodbye.

Raven starts to hear her own blood pumping in her ears when she realizes they are driving towards the model home. When they arrive, Marcus jumps out of the car before Raven has time to digest the scene that is in front of her.

Half the house is gone. There’s smoke and many firetrucks spraying into the house. Police officers walking around putting up crime scene tape. Raven swallows and looks around, trying to see if Lexa is by an ambulance somewhere. She doesn’t spot any. She gets out of the car and finds Marcus standing with a very baffled Jaha. They are interrupted when a police officer comes by to talk to Jaha.

“Sir, you said this place was vacant?” The officer asks.

“Yes, we were having new contractors out tomorrow to finish the work.” Jaha says.

“Well we found a sleeping bag and a backpack and other items. It looks like someone has been living here.” The officer states. Raven is officially panicking.

“What?!” Jaha yells, even more baffled by this new piece of information.

“You didn’t find a body in there did you?” Marcus asks with a concerned tone.

“No we didn’t. Whoever was living here must have started the fire somehow and then fled. Excuse me I need to go talk to another officer.” The officer leaves them.

A shocked Raven can’t help the next words that come out of her mouth. Marcus has always had this effect on her.

“We screwed up.”

//

 

Lexa walks on the side of the road and tries to hitch hike. She still has soot all over her face mixed with quite a bit of blood. She’s not surprised no one wants to stop for someone looking like that.

After about 30 minutes of trying, a car she recognizes pulls up and she walks to the passenger door to find Finn staring at her.

“You’re okay.” Finn says.

“Disappointed?” Lexa questions.

“Look…maybe you and I have started off on the wrong foot. Hi, i’m Finn. I’m Clarke’s…whatever it is that I am. You obviously know my secret so you know that Clarke has been protecting me.” Lexa’s slightly shocked by how sincere Finn is being. She kind of understands where Finn is coming from as well. This outsider, herself, comes in and starts screwing up his routine, threatening a big secret of his. She has sympathy for the guy. 

“If we both keep our mouths shut, they may never know it was us.” Finn says to Lexa with worried eyes. Lexa scoffs and ponders what Finn is asking her to do. She realizes she wants to do the right thing for once. She doesn’t want to runaway anymore. She needs to face her problems head on now. Her living situation. The fire. Her very real feelings for Clarke. Head on. She opens Finn’s car door and climbs in. He looks confused.

“What are you doing?” 

“You’re giving me a ride.” Lexa deadpans. Finn looks her up and down and puts the car in drive.

 

Marcus and Raven pull up to the house where Clarke and Abby are in the driveway, already talking to a police officer. Marcus gets out and Raven drags her feet, not really wanting to have this conversation. Marcus comes up behind her and puts a reassuring hand on her neck leading her to Abby and Clarke. Clarke gives Raven a worried look as Raven just shrugs.

The officer that had interviewed her earlier in the day approaches Raven.

“Now is the time for you to tell me the truth. All of it.” He says sternly. Just as Raven is opening her mouth to speak another car drives up into the driveway. Blinded by the headlights it’s hard to see whose car it is. After the lights turn off and the car stops, the family and police officers see who it is. It’s Finn and next to him is a bloody and dirty Lexa.

Lexa steps out of the car and walks towards Marcus who looks at her worriedly.

“Sorry,” She mutters as a police officer steps over to Lexa.

“Lexa Woods?” Lexa nods her head and already turns around to put her hands behind her back, “We have some questions for you.” The police officer begins putting the cuffs tightly around her wrists as another voice speaks up.

“It was an accident.” Finn blurts out. Clarke looks at Finn confused.

“Yeah, you were there?” The officer calls over to Finn. Finn looks like he wants to hesitate but owns up to it.

“Yeah.” The other officer goes over to put cuffs around his wrists as well.

“Then we have some questions for you too.” Marcus walks up as the two officers begin shuffling Lexa and Finn into the back of the police car.

“Keep your mouth shut. I’ll follow you down to the station. Officer i’m her lawyer.” He looks over at Finn and points at him, “You too.” The two get into the police car and one of the officers gets in the drivers seat and begins to pull down the driveway.

Marcus shoots Abby a look as he gets in his car and follows the police car. Clarke, Raven and Abby are left in the driveway, confused and stunned about what just happened. That Finn was involved. Lexa’s bloodied face. What the hell went on in that house?


	3. The Casino Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of last chapter, Lexa is stuck in police custody. Clarke is having conflicting feelings about that nights events. Raven is scheming and catching on about Lexa and Clarke's attraction to one another. Marcus makes a discovery. Abby has an epiphany. Of course it's not Newport without all this taking place during a fancy charity event.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know I know. It's been a million and one years since i've updated this! I got stuck with how I wanted to proceed with the rest of this story. Something i'll explain at the end of the chapter. My personal life all of a sudden went crazy. New job, moved to a new city, relationship ended. Lot's of life changes which left me creatively struggling. I had this chapter over half-way finished for quite awhile and finally finished it this evening.
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to my fellow Pacific Northwest native Ciara, as this was what she wanted for her upcoming birthday: an update.
> 
> As always if you have any questions or just want to come yell at me, hit me up on tumblr! cohenatwood.tumblr.com

Lexa shifts in her seat uncomfortably. She feels like she is definitely having Deja Vu. Blue jumpsuit, hasn’t had a decent meal in two days, feels dirty, and her self-righteous lawyer staring at her with concerning eyes.

“Abby got Thelonius Jaha to drop the charges so you and Finn won’t have that on your record.”

“Is he still in here?” 

“No. There was no reason once the charges were dropped and…” Lexa finishes his sentence.

“And he has someone to go home to.” Lexa stares blankly at a spot on the old wooden table. There are carvings of people’s names and symbols. She begins studying them as one hand drums lightly on the wood. An action she had no idea she was doing until she feels a hand stop the action.

“Why didn’t you come to me? Talk to me about what you were feeling?” Marcus tries to make eye contact with Lexa. Lexa finally looks up to Marcus, he can see her eyes slightly watering.

“Why would I?” Lexa raises her voice slightly, “Either way I am going into foster care right?”

“We have someone out there looking for your mom. When we find her, we’ll figure it all out…”

“What if you don’t find her? Do I just stay in here until I get a place in foster care?” Lexa has almost a hopeful glint in her eye and it’s confusing Marcus.

“Why would you want that? There’s hope to find your mother, Lexa.” Marcus states.

Lexa, realizing that Marcus isn’t understanding what she is trying to say, leans forward like what she is about to say is a secret.

“What if…what if I don’t want to find her?” She stares at him as he furrows his brow and she sees the realization hit him.

Marcus leans back in his chair to ponder her words, then a guard lets them know that time is up for visiting. He stands up, Lexa mimicking him as a guard comes up behind her to put the cuffs back on her wrists.

“I’ll be back to visit you and we can talk more.” Lexa nods at him. As he turns to walk away Lexa stops him.

“Hey, tell your wife, I said thank you, please?” 

Marcus smiles at her and nods, “Already did.” Marcus decides to watch as the guards take Lexa back to the general population. There are crowds of kids, all of them looking at Lexa like they want to kill her. He takes a deep breath. He wishes he could just grab her and run out of here with her but he can’t. He watches them close the barred door as a guard removes Lexa’s cuffs. She begins walking when an inmate purposely bumps into Lexa’s shoulder. Lexa says something under her breath as Marcus hears the other inmate yell, “Yeah you’re not sorry now, but you will be.” He sees Lexa ball a fist up but continue walking.

 

Marcus arrives back at the house. He takes a deep breath before entering. He knows he will have to face the pleading eyes of Raven and Clarke. He knows it will just start another fight with Abby. He wills himself to open the door and walk in.

Just as expected, all the girls are in the kitchen. Each pretending to focus on an erroneous task. Raven, sitting at the island, pretending to be reading a National Geographic magazine. Abby, washing the dishes in the sink that Marcus is pretty sure have already been washed, twice. Clarke opening up cupboards and then shutting them. As Marcus walks into the kitchen, all eyes leave their ‘tasks’ and focus on him. He sets his brief case down on the island and walks over to Abby and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey babe.” Marcus nearly whispers.

“How is she?” Abby whispers back. Marcus can see the other two girls trying to listen to what he’s going to say. He thinks of his words carefully but wants to also be honest.

“Well…there is a reason why I try to keep kids out of there.” He decides on that. He looks back over to Clarke and Raven who heard what he said. Abby shakes her head slightly. She purses her lips as she looks up from ‘washing dishes’ and gives Marcus a very guilty look. He can tell she is struggling with this.

“Can we see her?” Clarke asks.

“No.” Abby sternly says almost immediately after Clarke asks. Clarke shoots Abby a look of contempt and Marcus takes a deep breath. Here we go.

“Well why not?” Raven asks, searching between both Abby and Marcus.

“It’s not a place for you girls.” Marcus says, hoping that will put the end to the conversation.

“Oh, but for Lexa it’s totally her place? She’s the same age as us. We had just as much a part in what happened as she did!” Clarke begins raising her voice. Marcus sighs, he knows Clarke absolutely has a point, but he also knows him and Abby want to protect these girls. They shouldn’t be subjected to seeing a friend of theirs, locked up like an animal. It’s hard enough on himself.

“What kind of mother would I be if I let you two go there?! I am not her mother…” Clarke interrupts Abby and shocks the entire room.

“Yeah, well, that’s a good thing.” Clarke walks out of the kitchen to go up to her room.

“Hey! Get back here! Apologize!” Marcus calls out to her. Raven sheepishly gets up and follows Clarke upstairs.

Abby lets out a long sigh.

“Am I a terrible mother?” Abby asks, she has slight tears in her eyes. Marcus wraps his arms around her.

“You’re not a terrible mother. You’re a hot mother, and stern. But you’re not even close to being a terrible mother.” Marcus smiles and gets a slight chuckle from Abby. She pulls back from hugging him.

“You understand my point of view though, right?” Abby asks.

“I do. I understand. Clarke and Raven, they’re young. They are attached to her, hell i’m attached to her, but I understand. I do.” Marcus gives her a reassuring nod and Abby nods back and leans back into Marcus’s embrace.

 

 

“That was kind of harsh, Clarke.” Raven says as she watches Clarke lean back on her bed with her hands to her face.

“I know. I immediately regretted it after it came out of my mouth. But at this point we’re already grounded so…” She trails off. Looking at a spot on her ceiling. She absolutely regrets what she said to her mother. Her mom is a damn good mother. Sure, she’s gone a lot sometimes when she has to save someone’s life. But overall, her mother has given her and even Raven, the best life. She knows she would never have to worry about her mother abandoning her. She just wishes her mother would recognize, just because Lexa isn’t exactly bleeding out on a gurney, doesn’t mean her life doesn’t need saving as well.

Clarke sits up and looks at Raven, who’s sitting at her desk.

“How do you think she’s really doing, Rae?” Clarke has worry in her eyes.

Raven sighs, she can see her old friend is worried. She also knows not to lie to make her feel better.

“Honestly, from seeing shows and stuff, it’s probably not too good. Especially if Kane wants us to keep away from there. We know he’s the most liberal human being out of all of us.”

Clarke just sighs. She licks her lips and shakes her head, “I should have never left her that night.”

Raven furrows her brow. She didn’t even know Clarke had even gone there that night.

“You went up there that night? I thought you were at Nate’s and then went home?” Raven questions.

Clarke starts to stammer over herself, realizing she definitely didn’t make that statement only in her head.

“Well…I…uh, yeah. I wasn’t there when the fire broke out. Anyways, we should sneak out and go there ourselves then, we’re both grounded so at this point, what do we have to lose?” Clarke attempts to switch the subject, not wanting to get into the fact that Lexa and her were very close to kissing and spending a night together. Or the fact that Lexa had told Clarke she didn’t want to be with her. Something Clarke is still slightly upset about. Luckily, Raven has the attention span of a gnat and goes with the new topic of conversation.

“Yeah. But how the hell would we be able to do that? Your mom has practically moved me into the guest bedroom. She pushed back all her surgeries so she can keep an eye on us. There is no way we can get around her.” 

Clarke thinks for a moment and then smiles.

 

//

“The last thing I thought you’d want is to host a bunch of Newpsies for a brunch.” Marcus scoffs.

“Well I agreed to do it weeks ago. If I back out now, they’re just going to talk about me behind my back.” Abby replies as she starts putting appetizers on treys and mimosas in champagne flutes.

“I don’t even know why you hang out with them. You don’t even like them.” Marcus counters.

“It’s not that I don’t like them, they’re my oldest friends. Besides it’s to help with Casino Night in a couple of days.”

“Ugh, is that another one where I have to wear a tie to?” Marcus asks, looking genuinely disgusted. Abby chuckles at her poor husband.

“Yes, unfortunately. But don’t worry, i’ll take the tie off for you by the end of the night.” Abby smiles suggestively. Marcus laughs, walks towards Abby, and gives her a deep kiss, before pulling away.

“You know, when you say things like that, I am definitely a lot more willing to put on a tie.” Marcus kisses Abby again.

“Then I guess I got to use that more often if I get this response.” Abby whispers to Marcus on his lips. The two continue deepening their kiss until the doorbell rings. They break away as Marcus watches Abby head towards the door.

Abby answers and many women barge in, gently greeting Abby. Abby can already hear some women talking about Lexa.

“I thought you said the girl Marcus brought home burnt down their house? It looks pretty good.” One woman says.

“No, I said she burnt down Thelonius’s model home.” The other woman corrects. They are not quiet about their conversation either. Abby already knows this brunch is going to be long.

One of the women approaches Abby, looking actually concerned at her.

“How is your family holding up?” She asks.

“We’re fine.” Abby smiles.

“Well good, nobody blames you for endangering the community. That poor girl, she’s locked up, yes?” The woman asks. Abby is a little stunned and sees Marcus rolls his eyes as he grabs his brief case to leave the house, but not before yelling out something for the girls to talk about even more, when they are not around Abby.

“Well, i’m off to find the next kid to endanger the community. Hey, maybe a black kid? Or an asian kid? See ya later ladies.” Marcus smiles and heads out the door. The other woman just look around at each other stunned as Abby tries to stifle a laugh.

 

 

Lexa walks into the cafeteria to get the stale lunch she has barely eaten in the past few days. She sits down at a nearly empty table. She uses her plastic fork to move around some peas. She just can’t have an appetite when everything about her life right now makes her stomach churn.

Her thoughts are interrupted when the girl who she had bumped into earlier decides to taunt her a little more. Lexa knows what this girl wants. She wants a fight but Lexa will not give her that satisfaction. The girl swipes Lexa’s tray off the table.

“Did you tell the guard I fucking drew on the wall, bitch?” She spits. Lexa is confused.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Lexa states, keeping her eye contact with the girl.

“They think I did it, and I have a feeling a privileged bitch like you told em I did!” The girl has a slight look of crazy in her eyes.

“I still have no idea what you are going on about. So if you could just go yell like a dying pterodactyl somewhere else, that’d be great.” Now Lexa knows she probably shouldn’t have said that, but she felt like she needed to defend herself for once without using her fists. The girl definitely took offense to that and Lexa watches as the girl looks around the cafeteria to make sure no one is watching them. When the girl is satisfied, she grabs the back of Lexa’s hair, pulling her head back so the length of her neck is exposed. The girl then produces what looks like a razor blade from the pocket of the blue jump suit. She holds it to Lexa’s neck, whispering in her ear.

“Next time, there won’t be a warning.” The girl states as she nicks the side of Lexa’s neck, she shoves her back forward. She hears the girl chuckle as she makes her way across the cafeteria. Lexa touches her neck and realizes she’s bleeding a lot more than she thought she was. She goes to get some napkins while covering her neck, not wanting to draw attention to herself. The last thing she wants is for a guard to ask what happened. That would give her an even bigger target on her back.

 

 

Clarke and Raven somehow made it past the big group of women sitting in the living room. They both decided while Abby was hosting her brunch, the two would sneak away to Raven’s and get her car and drive to the jail. They enter the backyard knowing the coast is clear. They begin walking until a voice startles them.

“Where are you two going?” Abby asks as she sits at the patio table with her mimosa in her hand.

Clarke and Raven turn around with deer in the headlights look.

“Why are you out here?” Raven asks, glancing at the window where she can still see some of the women in the living room, chattering away.

Abby glances over and shrugs, “I needed a Newpsie break.”

“Great, alright let’s go Raven.” Clarke decides to just risk it and grabs Raven’s arm to walk away.

“Clarke! Tell me now.” Abby says, she’s standing now. Clarke and Raven stop and turn back around.

“We’re going to visit Lexa.” Raven blurts. Clarke gives her a slight glare.

“No. No way.” Abby says.

“Well, since we’re already grounded, i’m just going to take my chances.” Clarke says.

“Clarke, please. You are my child. I am trying here. I have hired the best private detective to find her mother, what more can I give you?” Abby asks, pleading in her eyes. Clarke looks at her mother and decides, maybe if Abby saw the environment that Lexa is in, she’d understand her point of view.

“I want you to come with me. Us.” Clarke states which surprises Raven. Raven cocks her brow at Clarke, asking her with her eyes if she has a plan.

Abby is about to speak when the backdoor opens. A woman named, Clarke is pretty certain named Marie comes out.

“Oh Abby there you are! We were just talking about whether we should have the silk table cloths or cotton?” The woman has the most robotic smile on her face.

“Uh, pick whatever you want.” Abby forcefully smiles back. The woman heads back inside and Abby quickly turns to Raven and Clarke.

“Give me 15 minutes to lose the girls.” She smiles.

 

 

Abby walks into the jail. It’s definitely crowded she notices. She walks over to the visiting desk to get badges for herself, Clarke, and Raven.

“Griffin. Three of us.” She tells the guard. The guard hands her three badges and all girls clip them on. A guard helps them make their way to the visiting place. As they step in Lexa is also walking in getting her cuffs removed. She looks very surprised to see the three of them here.

Raven gives a little wave and sits down. Clarke instantly has no idea what to say. The last time they spoke, it was definitely not on good terms. Her stomach is in knots at the sight of Lexa. She notices right away a fairly deep cut on her neck and some bruising around her wrists, probably to do with the cuffs. Her heart aches for the beautiful girl in front of her. But then she remembers what Lexa said that night, she doesn’t want her. She swallows her feelings and decides to stand by her mother, who is watching Lexa and Raven with worried eyes.

“What happened to your neck?” Raven speaks first.

“Uh, nothing. Some people I guess just don’t like me in here.” Lexa shrugs. Raven nods her head a little. She notices Lexa keeps glancing at Clarke and Clarke having to look at the floor almost every time their eyes meet. She officially knows, something totally happened between the two at the house. She gives Lexa a look while Clarke is looking at the floor. Lexa just shakes her head, hoping that is enough to keep Raven from asking something stupid, especially in front of Abby.

“I’m sorry. I thought I had it all figured out. I guess I didn’t.” Raven says, hanging her head a little. Lexa reaches over and pats Raven’s hand.

“It’s okay. Not your fault.” Lexa tries to give a reassuring smile. That’s when the girl who had threatened Lexa is now sitting a few tables away, clearly waiting for a visitor. Bored the girl starts trying to get Abby’s attention.

“Hey. Hey you. Why aren’t you smiling huh? I can make you smile.” The girl smirks. Lexa’s anger is now at an all time high. Going after her is one thing, but to go after Abby? That will not fly. Lexa doesn’t turn around but speaks up anyways.

“Leave her alone.” 

The girl sits up in her seat, now her interest is piqued. 

“Lexa, it’s fine.” Abby reassures her.

“Oh this girl with you? Aw now lemma get a real good look at you bitch.” The girl stands up and heads towards their table.

“Okay let’s go.” Abby states and grabs a wide eyed Clarke’s arm.

“Uh…guard?” Raven asks looking around at the room. Before the girl can reach Abby, Clarke, and Raven’s side of the table Lexa stands up and punches the girl in the face. The girl then lunges forward and a fight has broken out.

Abby grabs Clarke and Raven to get out of the way as guards come in trying to break Lexa and the other girl up. The other girl screaming at the top of her lungs.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you. I’ll kill you!”

Abby swallows. No way in hell is she letting this happen.

 

 

Marcus walks into the house. It was now the evening and he is exhausted. When he steps in he hears the faint sound of video games playing. He also knows for a fact that Abby told Clarke and Raven they aren’t allowed to play anything or watch TV while grounded.

He walks down the hall yelling out, “Raven! Clarke! We said no video games…” He stops in his tracks when he reaches the living room and sees not two sets of eyes on him but three. The third being the emerald green eyes he saw earlier in the morning.

“Oh.” He says. The girls glance around at each other before turning back to Marcus.

“Uh…carry on.” He says as he makes his way to the kitchen where he is sure he’ll find Abby. Abby is leaning against the counter drinking a glass of wine. She looks at him and just takes a long pull from the glass.

“Now, I didn’t know you to be an impulsive shopper.” Marcus jokes. Abby sets her glass of wine down.

“I couldn’t leave her in there, Marcus. They were gonna kill her.” She states in a hushed voice, so as not to alert the girls in the other room.

“Well we can’t keep doing this to her. Taking her home, bringing her back. Giving her hope and then snatching it away. It’s not good.” Marcus says.

“I know that. But she can’t stay here. We need to find her mother.” Abby states.

“She doesn’t want to find her.” 

“She’s a kid, Marcus, she doesn’t know what she wants.” Abby and Marcus are then startled by Lexa coming in and speaking.

“I guess I won’t unpack then.” She says. She keeps her head down as she makes her way to the fridge to grab three sodas and walks out. Abby has a wounded puppy look as she looks back at Marcus. She sighs and heads towards their bedroom, clearly needing a minute.

 

 

The next morning, Lexa and Raven are in the kitchen. Raven is reading a National Geographic magazine at the island. Lexa is pouring herself some cereal. It’s clear Clarke isn’t up yet.

“So…you and Clarke have been acting weird around each other. She also mentioned she may have gone up to see you on that fateful night.” Raven smirks, not even bothering to look up from her magazine. She knows full well that Lexa’s face probably looks like a tomato.

“Nothing happened.” Lexa says. She knows that definitely won’t be enough to get Raven off her back. Raven shuts the magazine and looks at Lexa with a smirk and cocked eyebrow.

“Oh really? You guys were up in an abandoned house. All alone. Candles lit. Music swelling. Nothing? You sure about that?” 

“She came to see me, yes. She came up, asked to spend the night. Then I told her to leave.” Lexa says, looking at her bowl of cereal.

“You told her to leave? What is wrong with you?” Raven chuckles.

“I thought I was leaving in the morning. It didn’t seem right.” Lexa shrugs.

“Lord. She’s probably embarrassed. Maybe you should talk to her alone.” Raven suggests.

“No. I don’t think she wants to talk to me ever again. I said some things…” Lexa trails off.

“Well, you’re in the same house now. Maybe now is the time to take some of those things back. Clarke is actually a very forgiving person, if the situation calls for it.” 

Lexa just nods her head as she takes another bite of her cereal. They are then interrupted by Clarke entering the kitchen. She stops in the entryway looking at both a wide eyed Lexa and a smirking Raven.

“What?” She says. Lexa hopes Clarke didn’t realize she was staring. Clarke is in sleep shorts, a tank top, clearly not wearing a bra (unbeknownst to Lexa, Clarke totally did that on purpose) and has the hair of a blonde lioness. To Lexa, she looks absolutely astounding.

Lexa looks over at a smirking Raven who was already looking at her. They both turn back to Clarke and say ‘nothing’ at the same time, returning to their previous tasks of reading a magazine and eating cereal.

Clarke walks over to the fridge to get orange juice and catches Lexa’s eyes. She wants to smile at her. She really wants to be civil with her, but every time she looks into her eyes, all she hears is Lexa telling her she doesn’t want her. Instead she just keeps a straight face as she continues with her morning routine, trying not to look at the emerald eyes that keep sneaking glances at her.

 

“Um where are you going?!” Abby asks as she sees Marcus with his brief case headed out the door.

“Hon, I got a big case load, I gotta be at the office all day.”

“Clarke and Raven are coming with me to help set up for Casino Night. What am I suppose to do with Lexa?” Abby asks.

“Take her with you, spend some time with her.” Marcus starts for the door again.

“You really think that’s a good idea, with all those women?” Abby questions.

“Sure, they’ll love her. I gotta go. Bye hon.” And with that Marcus is out the door.

 

 

//

The four girls are on their way to the banquet hall of the country club. As they park, Lexa starts to get nervous.

“You know, I could just stay in the car.” Lexa starts tapping her leg with her hand before Raven stops it.

“It’s fine, Lexa. We all know you can punch one of them if they come at ya!” Raven chuckles. Abby rolls her eyes and gets out of the car. Raven follows as well, Clarke looks back at Lexa and just gives her a reassuring smile before exiting the car. Lexa follows.

They enter and there are lots of people setting tables up. Upon entering a tall skinny woman, who looks to be about Abby’s age comes to greet them. She looks at Lexa with wide and slightly scared eyes.

“This is Lexa.” Abby says, giving Lexa a warm smile.

“Right, i’ve heard so much about you. Nice to meet you.” Lexa just nods and walks further into the banquet hall.

“Alright, Lexa, you and Clarke can help put some of the blackjack tables together.” The tall blonde woman says.

Clarke and Lexa give each other awkward looks. This is the first time they will be alone since the night at the model home. They make their way over to a table. Lexa looks back at Raven who is helping Abby, she gives Lexa a cheeky smile and a thumbs up and Lexa just shakes her head.

 

 

They have both been working for about an hour. Only speaking when necessary. They are both counting decks of cards when finally, Lexa decides to take Raven’s advice.

“Look, I want to say sorry, about the other night…”

“It’s fine, Lexa. We don’t have to talk about it.” Clarke says, she knows if they start talking about it, she may start crying. She’s decided mostly due to embarrassment, thinking that a girl like Lexa would ever be interested in her.

“No, it’s not. I said some things…” Clarke cuts her off.

“You were right. It wasn’t realistic. We’re from two different worlds.” Clarke says. She searches Lexa’s eyes for a minute. “If I didn’t say it already, I just want you to know that i’m happy you’re okay.” And with that Clarke walks away, hoping to find a new task to complete without Lexa.

Lexa just sighs. She looks over and spots Raven, arching her eyebrows. Clearly having seen and heard what happened. She then turns away and goes back to her task.

 

 

After awhile Lexa finishes up the blackjack tables by herself. She goes over to Abby and Raven who are taking cards out of boxes. Abby is on the phone with someone, who she assumes is from the hospital she works at. Lexa decides to help them. After a few minutes, Abby hangs up the phone. Lexa decides she wants to try and find common ground with Abby.

“So, what do you do at the hospital? Are you a specialized surgeon or just general surgery?” Lexa asks.

Abby turns to her, a smile on her face and also a look of surprise.

“I use to specialize in cardiothoracics . Heart transplants, mostly. But the cases became hard to take emotionally. I became attached to a lot of the paitients, unfortunately, a lot died while waiting for a heart. It takes its toll on you after awhile. I’m now the head of general surgery.”

“So you have the authority over all the other general surgeons?” Lexa asks.

“Yes, I do. Why do you ask?” Abby questions.

“I use to want to be a sports medicine doctor. I use to play soccer, and I was always interested in the medicine side of sports.” Lexa admits. She has never actually talked about that dream before to anyone. It feels good to get it off her chest.

Abby smiles wide at Lexa. She’s surprised. She’s never really had anyone interested in her line of work. Clarke use to be, but now she was more focused on her artwork. Raven has always been more interested in making things blow up or fly into space than surgery.

“What do you want to be now?” Abby asks.

“Uh, 17.” Lexa smiles as Abby chuckles a little.

“Me too.” She says and gives a squeeze to Lexa’s shoulder.

“Careful Lexa, Abby will now probably start dragging you to conferences about all that boring medical garb.” Raven smirks.

“I honestly wouldn’t mind.” Lexa says truthfully.

“Finally, I have someone I can bring to those things. Raven and Clarke have always found it boring. I should check and see when the next one is.” Abby says.

Lexa just smiles. She’s happy that she finally has some common ground with Abby.

 

 

Marcus is sitting outside a laundry matt. He was on lunch when he finally got a call that the private investigator had found Lexa’s mother, Amelia. He gets out of his car and stands by the doorway. He sees the same woman he met in front of the juvenile corrections center. She’s trying to get a machine unstuck and accidentally knocks over the bags of quarters. Marcus goes in to help her.

“Hi, Amelia Woods? I’m Marcus Kane, Lexa’s attorney.” He smiles. She looks up at him guiltily.

“I can’t really talk right now, i’m working.” She says as she goes back to picking the quarters up off the floor. She then stops and looks back up at Marcus.

“How is she?” She questions. Marcus smiles.

“How about we get a cup of coffee and talk about it?” Amelia nods.

 

 

Abby decided on the way home, the girls and her should stop off at the hospital real quick so she could grab some files. She showed Lexa around a little, reveling in the bright smile that Lexa had. They returned home, it was evening now. Marcus was already home judging by his car in the driveway. The entered the house.

“So I was thinking Lexa, I could actually schedule giving you a real tour of the hospital, if you were interested. Maybe some time next week?” Abby asks as she shuts the door,

“Yeah, that’d be really fun actually, thank you.”

The girls make their way to the kitchen. Lexa stops in her tracks as she sees Marcus sitting at the island with a ghost. Her ghost. Her mother.

Abby, Raven, and Clarke also stop, looking at a woman who looks very similar to Lexa. She has curly brunette hair, darker green eyes. She looks a lot older though, like the years have been quite hard on her. The woman stands up from the island and she waves her hand up towards her face.

“Hey, kiddo.”

 

 

Lexa isn’t sure how she is feeling right now. Marcus insisted that her mother stay for dinner. They are all now sitting awkwardly at the nice dining room table. She feels like they don’t deserve this treatment. Especially her mother. Her mother who left her. Didn’t tell her where she was going. Wrote a crappy note on a paper towel.

“This is a really nice house. Who knew your public defender would be this loaded huh?” Amelia tries to joke. Marcus laughs so it’s not as awkward.

“Yeah yeah well…” Marcus shrugs his shoulders. Abby decides to start up conversation.

“So where are you staying?” Abby asks.

“Oh, i’m in between places right now. I’m staying on a friends couch. Definitely not as nice. Lots of roaches.” She says nonchalantly.

“Well you should stay here, tonight. No reason to go all the way back there tonight.” Abby says, giving her a smile.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it.” Amelia says.

“What happened to Pete?” Lexa finally speaks. Everyone’s eyes went to Lexa.

“I, uh, I broke up with him sweetie. He had a drinking problem.” She says to Marcus who just nods.

“Yeah, cause Pete was the problem.” Lexa says under her breath. But she realizes quickly everyone heard her. She catches Clarke’s eyes just staring with concern.

“Hey, I haven’t touched a drop since I dumped his sorry ass last week.” Her mother says. Abby starts to shift uncomfortably.

There’s a beat of silence as Amelia starts to speak again.

“He put his hands on me and…Lexa one too many times.” Her mother says.

“Mom!” Lexa exclaims, trying to shut her up. The last thing she wants is for them to know about these things. Amelia ignores her and keeps going.

“It was his cocaine thing, he brought it around the house and…” Lexa interrupts her mother by angrily getting up from the table and walking out to the pool house.

Clarke, surprising everyone starts to get up to go after Lexa but realizes Amelia was beating her to it. Abby just puts her hand on Clarke’s to make her sit. All eyes go to Abby and Abby swallows a huge lump in her throat. Maybe Lexa going back with her mother isn’t the right choice in this situation.

 

 

Amelia follows Lexa into the pool house. Lexa is taking deep breaths and pacing. Amelia enters.

“I’m sorry kiddo I just…”

“Why are you here?” Lexa asks.

“Well I…I came for you babe.” Her mother says, stepping forward to try and reach out for Lexa, but she steps back and folds her arms across her chest.

“No you’re not. You abandoned me…you left a note. A note?! How could you do that?” Lexa asks, her voice shaking.

Amelia sighs.

Lexa continues, “What you think cause someone offers you a fancy place to stay, you want to be a mother again?”

“Listen, hon. I was young when I got pregnant with Anya. I married your dad and I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. When your dad got arrested, I didn’t know what to do. I made poor choices and I hurt you and Anya and I am so sorry about that. When you came along, I thought I did something right. You were always the smart one, the good one. When you got arrested, I knew I had failed…that I failed you as a mother. So I ran. I’m so sorry, babe.”

Lexa stands there, taking in her mother’s words. She didn’t realize the extent of her disappointing her mother when she got arrested. The two sit in silence for what seems like hours.

“You think you could ever forgive me, kiddo?” Her mother asks, sincerity in her eyes. Lexa begins shaking her head.

“I don’t know.”

Her mother nods in understanding.

“I should just go, you know? You seem to be okay…i’m just gonna go.” Her mother starts to head for the pool house door and Lexa begins to panic.

“Wait!” She stops and turns around and starts heading towards Lexa. Lexa sways a little, her arms still folded around her chest.

“Let’s just…go slow.” Lexa barely whispers. Her mother smiles a tearful smile.

“Okay, baby, okay.” Her mother says.

 

 

//

Clarke and Abby sit outside in the backyard together. The tension between the two has dissipated, tension, that if Abby and Clarke are honest with themselves, has been there since long before Lexa. As Clarke has gotten older, she has become more of her own individual. Clarke has been adamant that she will not follow in her mother’s footsteps in the medical field when it comes to college. Something, that brought a lot of tension between the two at the end of Clarke’s junior year. But right now, it has settled, staying just about the surface right now.

Lexa and Amelia went to spend the day together alone to reconnect. Marcus and Raven ran off somewhere to work on a car to bond. Which leaves Abby and Clarke.

“Things seem to be going well with Amelia.” Abby says.

“Yeah. Do you think it’ll last though?” Clarke asks Abby. Abby looks at her daughter and she knows she can’t hide the doubt on her face.

“I don’t know. From what I know from patients, addiction is hard. But it also sounds like there are underlying issues there that we only touched the surface of last night. I won’t lie to you Clarke, i’m definitely worried about Lexa.” And it’s so honest. Abby has left it on the table for Clarke and Clarke is so happy that her mother has broken through her protective mother phase to realize, Lexa needs help.

“Maybe you could let them stay here? To keep an eye on them till she gets back on her feet.” Clarke asks.

Abby sighs, she wants desperately to keep an eye on Lexa. But she also knows Lexa has a mother. She’s definitely not mother of the year but she is trying. That’s a huge thing. Abby goes to answer Clarke until they hear a chorus of laughter as Amelia and Lexa enter the backyard. They are carrying bags and Amelia’s jeans are soaked up to her knees.

“Hey you guys! Get a little shopping done?” Abby says cheerfully. She gets a bright smile back from Lexa, something Abby is certain she hasn’t seen from the girl yet.

“Oh yeah! It’s beautiful around here. We went down to the ocean, the water is so warm, not that Lexa would know!” Amelia says looking at Lexa and jokingly pokes her in the side.

“I wasn’t going to go in there with all my clothes on.” Lexa counters. Amelia turns back to Abby.

“I’m an embarrassment to my daughter.”

“Welcome to my world.” Abby smiles. Abby sees Clarke give Lexa a cautious smile and Lexa return the favor before Amelia speaks once more.

“Well, I think we should probably get going. Chino is awhile back and I don’t want to hit traffic.” She says, Abby sees Lexa’s face drop a little and then sees Clarke give a very panicked look towards her.

Abby stands up from where she’s sitting.

“Actually you guys should stay for Casino Night. You guys can just leave early tomorrow, that way you avoid traffic.” Abby says with a smile.

“Oh I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”

“It’s not a problem. It’ll be fun.” Abby smiles reassuringly.

“I don’t have anything to wear.” Amelia looks down at her clothes, a simple pair of blue jeans and a black t-shirt. Abby looks at her and gathers they are both definitely the same size.

“Oh i’m sure I have something in my closet.”

 

 

Lexa sits in the kitchen with Raven and Marcus. By some miracle, after Raven and Marcus arrived home wearing straight up grease, they were one of the firsts to be ready to leave. A feat not lost on Lexa.

“So you and your mom seem to be doing good.” Raven says while popping a grape into her mouth.

“Yeah, we had a good day today actually.” Lexa smiles. She feels warmth when thinking about the day her and her mother had. She hopes it lasts.

“You know, just because your mom is back, doesn’t mean we’re not gonna still be seeing you.” Marcus states smiling at a beaming Lexa.

“She actually really likes it here. She was talking about possibly getting an apartment here. In the numbered streets, of course.” Lexa smiles.

“That’d be awesome! A lot better than hitching a bus to New Orleans, right?” Raven playfully jabs her elbow in Lexa’s side. Lexa laughs, she’s still on the fence about that.

Before she can answer Clarke, Abby and her mother all come into the kitchen. She looks at her mother who looks actually very gorgeous. She has a black dress on, actual makeup on, and her hair done. She looks very youthful and not the hardened woman that she has become. Lexa also can’t help but let her eyes flit over to Clarke. Clarke is wearing a red dress with a slit up the side going almost all the way to her hip. It hugs her curves in all the right places. She has red lipstick on and it’s hard for Lexa to tear her eyes away. Instead she sits with her mouth slightly agape. Marcus notices the look Lexa is giving Clarke and clears his throat. Busted.

“Wow, being the only man here has its perks! All of you look stunning.” Marcus says.

Lexa finally pulls her eyes away from Clarke and looks to her mother and gives her a smile.

“Shall we?” Abby asks, motioning towards the door to the front of the house. Lexa moves to hook her arm around her mother’s. Raven smirks at Clarke and hooks her arm around hers as Marcus guides Abby out the door by the small of her back.

 

 

//

The make-shift casino floor looks incredible. The chandelier lights all around, rows of slot machine’s, multiple tables with various card games being played, and upbeat jazz music playing throughout. You'd think they were actually in Vegas. Lexa never thought a charity event could be so glamorous. She's used to garage and random estate sales; nothing quite like this.

“Wow. Are all their parties like this?” Amelia whispers.

Lexa chuckles, “I think so. Just stick with me and we’ll navigate it together.”

“Always, kiddo.” Amelia smiles. The mother-daughter duo begin to break away from the group and make their way around the various blackjack tables.

 

 

Raven makes her way around the casino floor by herself. Considering Lexa was off bonding with her mother, Clarke went to meet up with her ‘real’ friends, and she definitely didn’t want to stick around the love-fest that was Abby and Marcus, it was her only option. As she walks she sees a pair of dice hit the floor and bends down to pick them up.

When she sees feet standing in front of her, her eyes trail up the body that those feet belong too. Of course it’s none other than Octavia Blake. She can’t even stop her mouth moving with the next words.

“Hi Octavia, Raven Reyes.”

Octavia doesn’t even miss a beat when she says, “I’m superstitious, blow on these.”

Octavia is wearing a low-cut mini black dress and Raven gulps and her mind instantly goes into the gutter.

“Wh-What?”

Octavia holds out the dice in her hand, “Blow.” Of course, she was talking about the dice, you idiot.

Raven blows on her hand with the dice and Octavia turns around and throws them out on the table. It lands on her number and she squeals and jumps up and down before getting the dice returned to her hand.

She turns to Raven, “Do it again!” Raven blows. It lands on her number again. Octavia squeals once more and tugs Raven’s arm to stand next to her.

“You’re not going anywhere Regina!”

“Raven.”

“Whatever!”

Raven can’t help the stupid smile that spreads across her face.

 

 

“The counts way positive.” Amelia whispers to Lexa.

“You’re counting?” Lexa murmurs.

“What? It’s for charity.” Amelia smiles and Lexa can’t help the grin that spreads across her face.

Lexa sees blonde hair by herself counting fake money off in the distance and can’t help but stare. It’s like Clarke feels Lexa’s eyes on her and she looks straight up into her direction. She gives Lexa a shy smile and Lexa returns it. Amelia notices the look.

“Go to her.” Amelia nudges Lexa.

“You sure?” Lexa asks

“I’m fine. Go hang out.” Amelia places a kiss on Lexa’s cheek as Lexa makes her way over to Clarke. What Lexa doesn’t notice is Amelia’s hand begin to tremble, due to the length of time not having a drink and the fact that there are many drinks around her.

 

“How’s it going?” Lexa asks Clarke while walking up to her.

“If only this was real money right?” Clarke says while waving the wad of fake money around.

“Something tells me if you wanted to wave around a wad of real money, you’d have no problem finding some to do it with.” Lexa smirks.

Clarke pretends to think about it for a second then smirks back, “Hmm, that may be true.”

Both of their smirks turn into grins.

“So, your mom’s back.” Clarke nonchalantly throws out while turning away from Lexa.

“Yeah. I think she’s really trying this time.” Lexa smiles. Clarke turns to look at her and gives her a sad smile.

“So that means you’re leaving?” Clarke all but whispers.

Lexa softens towards Clarke a bit. She puts her hand on her forearm. Begins to absentmindedly stroke her thumb across Clarke’s skin, feeling the goosebumps start to raise.

“Beats New Orleans.” Lexa shrugs and can’t help the smirk on her face. 

Clarke just smiles and grabs Lexa’s hand and they begin making their way to other blackjack tables.

 

 

Abby watches as Amelia downs another glass of champagne. Her heart sinking when she realizes Lexa is probably going to be quite upset. She decides to make her way over to Amelia to get her to stop.

“Don’t you think maybe that’s enough?” Abby asks, trying not to sound accusatory.

Amelia looks at Abby and then the fresh glass of champagne in her hands.

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I need to learn how to celebrate without the sauce.” She places the glass down. Abby gives her a reassuring smile.

“No one ever said it’d be easy.” Just then Marcus interrupts the two women to steal Abby away for a dance. When Amelia sees Abby is out of eyesight, she contemplates and struggles with her next move. She cringes as she picks up the glass and downs it.

 

 

//

“Tonight, is the best night of my life Lex!” Raven slams money onto the bar before directing the bar tender to grab two sodas.

“Yeah, why is that?” Lexa smirks.

“These two soda’s, not for only me Lexa. But for me and THE Octavia Blake.” Raven holds her head up proudly.

“Wow. I honestly didn’t think you had it in you.” Lexa jokes.

“Ha-ha. Jokes on you, this is the first time she’s let me leave her side!” 

Just then Octavia walks up behind them as Raven grabs the two drinks.

“Hello? Rabbits foot…Vamnos!” Octavia begins walking away just as quick as she came.

Raven looks at Lexa with a wide grin, “I bet by the end of the night she might even know my name.”

And with that admission Raven saunters after Octavia. Lexa continues waiting for her’s and Clarke’s drinks. She shakes her head. Still unsure why a smart girl like Raven is attracted to a shallow girl like Octavia. She finally gets her two drinks and heads back over to Clarke.

Clarke and her exchange warm grins until a commotion by a table is heard. Lexa’s head snaps and she sees her mother on the ground slurring and laughing after falling over a blackjack table. She swallows the lump in her throat as a crowd starts to gather to watch the belligerent woman on the ground. She gets her glass down and makes her way over. She stops seeing the sight before her. Bloodshot eyes and an ear piercing drunken laugh as she rolls all over the floor. She can hear the people whispering before she hears Clarke yell at them to shut up. That breaks her out of her reverie and she attempts to break through the crowd.

“Hey! Isn’t someone gonna help me up here?! What are you staring at huh?” Amelia yells. Lexa rushes over and grabs her mothers arms to help her up. Abby and Marcus are also breaking into the circle to get a handle on the situation.

“Oh Lexa, honey, i’m glad you’re here.” Amelia whines. Marcus and Lexa stand her up as Abby tells Clarke to grab the car. Raven is also by Lexa’s side trying to help walk her mother out of the event.

“I really screwed it up huh baby?” Amelia cries.

“It’s okay mom.” Lexa states.

“I’m so sorry kiddo.” Amelia slurs.

“It’s alright, I love you mom, let’s just get you to the car.”

 

They make it back to the Griffin-Kane household. Lexa drags her mother out to the pool house and tucks her into the bed. She sits on the couch watching her mother sleep and hopes that one day this cycle will break. That her and her mother will have beautiful fun filled days like they had earlier.

 

 

//

The next morning Abby makes her way with a cup of coffee to the pool house when she stops in her tracks. Amelia Woods has her backpack slung over her shoulder and she can see Lexa still sound asleep inside on the couch. Amelia meets her eyes and Abby gestures for them to sit on the patio chairs to talk. They make their way over and sit down.

Amelia produces a pack of cigarettes but then looks over at Abby’s slightly horrified expression and quickly puts the pack back into her jacket pocket.

“Well you caught me.” Amelia attempts to joke.

Abby shakes her head, “ She needs you. You’re her mother.”

“I’m not a mother…i’m a…mess. She’s a good kid, and she deserves better than me.”

Abby continues shaking her head, “Nobody is perfect, Amelia.”

“You saw me last night. That wasn’t even close to being the worst of it. I don’t got what you have. You have a wonderful husband who loves you. The way your kids look at you, hell even my kid…like you are gonna make everything better even if it’s just with a smile. I’ve never had that.”

Abby swallows the lump forming in her throat, “You can’t just walk away.”

“Why not?” Amelia counters, “It’d be the best thing I ever did for her.”

Abby stares off in the distance contemplating Amelia’s words. Amelia begins to stand up and grabs her backpack.

“Take care of her for me.” Amelia’s voice begins to crack, “She deserves it.”

Just then Lexa walks out of the pool house and looks up at the pair of women across the yard. Abby sees her eyes flick to her mom with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Amelia just holds her hand up to Lexa in a goodbye. She sees the moment Lexa understands what’s happening. Lexa begins to reluctantly hold her hand up as well in the silent goodbye.

Amelia puts her sunglasses on and turns and leaves the house.

 

//

Marcus is busy cooking up a big breakfast, hoping pancakes and waffles will help ease the awkwardness of the night before. Raven and Clarke are already up, each sitting at the island on their phones not speaking.

When the side door to the backyard opens and in walks Abby, who has her arm around Lexa, whose head is bowed down.

“Hey where’s Amelia?” Marcus asks, clearly not seeing the way Lexa has her head down.

Raven and Clarke both have worry in their eyes as they look at both Abby and Lexa.

“Lexa’s gonna stay with us now.” Abby states. Marcus’s eyes widen. Raven looks over at Clarke who has a smile on her face. Lexa looks up finally, a little teary eyed.

“Really? That’s awesome! Lexa let’s go…talk about stuff over here.” Raven says grabbing Lexa’s arm pulling a shy grin from Lexa’s face. Clarke gets off the chair and follows Raven into the living room. Lexa stops before following the two girls and turns around to Abby and Marcus. Abby is next to Marcus now with her arm around his waist, tears in her own eyes and a smile.

“I’ll…unpack later.” She smiles and turns to talk out into the living room.

Marcus has a look of wonderment all over his face. He turns to face Abby with an amazed smile on his face.

“Well, now we really can’t go back.” He says.

“I know.” Abby holds her head up high.

“We are way in over our heads.” Marcus jokes.

Abby smiles and pulls him closer, “I love you.”

Marcus smiles, “I love you too.”

The two turn to watch the three girls sitting on the couch. Raven blabbering on about one subject or another. Clarke catching Lexa’s eyes and smiling at Raven’s antics. Lexa looking like the whole world has finally been lifted off her shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so Lexa is officially living with the Griffin-Kane's. So I got pretty stuck on how I wanted to proceed with this storyline. Basically I feel as maybe I didn't create the dynamics in the proper way. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of developing the Clexa relationship while the two are legally sisters? I don't know. Anyways if you have any thoughts or ideas on how to proceed with their relationship, feel free to comment! 
> 
> I'm also working on a new Clexa fic. It'll be either 5 or 4 very very long parts. I decided i'm not posting it until i'm done completing it, which I have the final part started, so expect the first part of that to drop sometime either this weekend or next week. With that fic you won't be waiting months for an update as I will already have it completed.
> 
> If you have questions about this fic or the new fic, as always feel free to hit me up on Tumblr: cohenatwood.tumblr.com


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